THE 


COMMISSIONERS 

O*  THE 

ALMS-HOUSE, 

ALEXANDER  WHISTELO, 
aoeiacfe  man; 

BEING  A  REMARKABLE  CASE  OF 

BASTARDY, 

TRIF.D  AND  ADJUDGED  BY  THE 

MAYOR,  RECORDER,  AND  SEVERAL  ALDERMEN* 
OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEW-YORK, 

UNDER  THE  ACT   PASSED   6th  MARCH,   1801,  FOR 
THE  RELIEF  OF  CITIES  AND  TOWNS  FROM  THE 
MAINTENANCE  OF  BASTARD  CHILDREN. 


To  uvofov  kcu  <croXX<*  ^dy[xA]oc  rot?  tyl-nrix&S  w?i,-?^ov  rgc&AYjpteL 

PLUTARCH 

The  wisely  curious  rack  their  brain, 
To  solve  this  problem— all  in  vain. 

The  Reporter. 


NEW-YORK  : 

PUBLISHED  BY  DAVID  LONGWORTU, 
At  the  Shakafieare' Gallery. 

1808. 


Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gift  of  Seymour  B.  Durst  Old  York  Library 


6  OK 


TRIAL,  etc 


The  second  Section  under  which  this  question  arose,  is  as 
follows : 

II.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  if  any  woman  shall  be  de- 
livered of  a  bastard  child,  which  shall  be  chargeable,  or  likely  to 
become  chargeable,  to  any  city  or  town,  or  shall  declare  herself  to 
be  with  child,  and  that  such  child  is  likely  to  be  born  a  bastard, 
and  to  be  chargeable  as  aforesaid,  and  shall  in  either  case,  in  an  ex- 
amination to  be  taken  in  writing  upon  oath,  before  any  justice  of 
the  peace  of  any  city,  or  of  any  county  wherein  such  town  shall  be, 
charge  any  person  with  having  gotten  her  with  child,  it  shall  be 
lawful  for  such  justice,  upon  application  made  to  him  by  the  over- 
seers of  the  poor  of  such  city  or  town,  or  persons  acting  as  such, 
or  by  any  one  of  them,  to  issue  his  warrant  for  the  apprehending 
such  person  so  charged  as  aforesaid,  and  for  bringing  him  before 
such  justice,  or  before  any  other  justice  of  the  peace  of  such  city 
or  county ;  and  the  justice  before  whom  such  person  shall  be 
brought,  is  hereby  authorised  and  required  to  commit  such  person 
to  the  house  of  correction,  or  common  gaol  of  such  city  or  county, 
unless  he  shall  give  security  to  indemnify  such  city  or  town,  or 
shall  enter  into  a  recognizance  with  sufficient  surety,  with  condi- 
tion to  appear  at  the  next  general  sessions  of  the  peace,  to  be 
holden  for  such  city  or  county,  and  to  abide  or  perform  such  order 
as  shall  be  made  in  pursuance  of  this  act. 


To  the  Sjiecial  Justices  of  the  City  and  County  of  New-  York. 

The  bearer  of  this  note,  Lucy  Williams,  has  repre- 
presented  to  the  Commissioners  of  the  Alms-house,  that  she 
was  delivered  of  a  female  bastard  child,  on  the  23rd  day  of 
January,  1807,  and  that  said  child  has  become  a  public 
charge,  having  been  maintained  near  five  months  last  in  the 
Alms-house. 


4 


-W*<5 


And  she  farther  states,  that  Alexander  Whistelo,  coach- 
man to  Doctor  Hosack,  is  the  reputed  father  of  said  bastard 
child. 


You  are  therefore  hereby  requested  to -take  proper  legal 
measures  for  the  apprehending  of  Whistelo,  in  order  that  the 
public  may  be  indemnified. 

PHILIP  I.  ARCULARIUS,?  Commissioners  of 
P.  BQNNETT,  \  the  Alms-house, 


Alms-hou 
June  8,  1808 


JSE,  > 

108.5 


City  of  New-')  r~ 

York      \  ss'        e  v°luntary  examination  of  Lucy 

Williams,  a  yellow  woman,  taken  on  oath  before  me,  Jacob 

De  La  Montagnie,  one  of  the  Special  Justices  for  preserving 

the  peace  in  the  city  of  New-York,  this  eighth  day  of  June, 

1808,  who  saith  that  on  the  twenty -third  day  of  January, 

1807,  at  the  city  of  New-York,  she  was  delivered  of  a  female 

bastard  child,  which  said  child  is  now  chargeable  to  the  city 

and  county  of  New- York,  and  that  Alexander  Whistelo,  a 

coachman  to  Doctor  Hosack,  did  get  her  with  child  of  the 

said  bastard  child. 

her 

LUCY  X  WILLIAMS. 
Taken  before  me  this  8th  ?  mark, 
day  of  June,  1808.  y 

J.  DE  LA  MONTAGNIE,  Special  Justice. t 

City  and  county?      d    t    ,  ^  T         .      .  ,„  r  , 

>  ss.  By  Jacob  DeLa  Montavnie  cf  Joshua 

OF  NEW-YORK,     5  .      '  - 

Barker^  Special  Justices for  preserving  the  peace  in  the  city 
of  jYew.York  : 

To  the  Marshals  and  Constables  of  the  said  city,  and  eve- 
ry of  them,  Greeting: 
Whereas  complaint  has  been  made  to  us,  by  the  Commis- 
sioners of  the  Alms-house  and  Bridewell  of  the  city  afore- 


5 


said,  they  being  the  overseers  of  the  poor  of  the .  said  city, 
that  a  certain  female  bastard-child,  of  which  Lucy  Williams 
of  the  said  city,  was  on  the  third  clay  of  January,  1 807,  at  the 
city  aforesaid  delivered,  has  become  chargeable  to  the  city 
and  county  of  New-York,  and  that  the  same  is  likely  to  con^ 
tinue  so,  and  also  that  Alexander  Whistelo  of  the  said  city, 
coachman,  is  said  to  be  the  reputed  father  of  the  said  child. 
These  are  therefore  in  the  name  of  the  people  of  the  state 
„  of  New- York,  to  command  and  authorise  you  the  said  con- 

stables and  marshals,  and  every  of  you,  to  Summon  the  said 
Alexander  Whistelo  personally  to  be  and  appear  before  us,  at 
the  Police-office,  in  the  City -hall  of  the  city  of  New-York,  on 
Friday  the  tenth  day  of  June  inst.  at  four  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon of  that  day  ;  then  and  there  to  show  cause,  if  any  he 
•  has,  why  he  should  not  be  adjudged  to  be  the  reputed  father 
of  the  said  child.  And  further,  to  do  and  receive  in  the  pre- 
mises what  shall  then  and  there  be  adjudged  concerning 
him,  &c.  Given  at  the  Police-office,  in  the  City-hall  of  the 
city  of  New-York,  this  ninth  day  of  June,  1808. 

JOSHUA  BARKER. 

J.  DE  LA  MONTAGNIE. 

June  10th,  1808.  Four  o'clock,  P.  M.  parties  meet  and 
cause  is  adjourned  until  four  o'clock,  P.  M.  on  Tuesday  next 
the  14th  instant. 

June  14th,  1808.  Parties  met  and  cause  is  adjourned  un- 
til four  o'clock,  to-morrow  afternoon. 

June  15th,  1808.    Richard  Furman  being  examined  by 
consent  of  parties  beforetimes  adjourned,  says,  that  on  a  cer- 
tain occasion  the  above  named  Lucy  Williams  and  Alexander 
Whistelo  were  both  at  the  Alms-house,  where  the  said  Lucy 
^  had  a  child,  which  she  there  asserted  to  be  her  child,  and 

that  the  said  Alexander  was  the  father  of  the  said  child — 
That  the  said  child  appeared  to  him  to  be  the  child  of  a  while 


6 


man,  and  does  not  believe  that  the  said  child  was  the  child  of 
the  said  Alexander  Whistelo. 


RICH.  FURMAN 

Sworn  before  me  this' 
15th  day  of  June, 


1808. 

JOSHUA  BARKER,  S/iecialJustice. 


June  15th,  1808 — Four  o'clock,  P.  M.  parties  meet,  and 
Berthrong  Anderson  is  examined  as  follows  : 


York'^''^  ss'  Berthrong  Anderson  being  duly  sworn, 
deposeth  and  saith  the  receipt  is  in  the  words  and  figures  fol- 
lowing, viz. 

Received,  New-York,  March  20th,  1807,  of  Sarah  John- 
son, in  behalf  of  Alexander  Whistelo,  nineteen  dollars  fifteen 
cents  in  full. 

$19  15  his 

PHILIP  X  SERING. 
mark. 


That  the  said  receipt  was  written  by  him  at  the  request  of 
Philip  Sering  and  his  wife,  and  written  according  to  their  in- 
structions— and  cannot  tell  whether  it  was  dated  on  the  day 
it  was  written  or  not. — The  deponent  further  swears  that  he 
did  not  write  any  other  receipt  for  the  said  parties  about  the 
business  of  Alexander  Whistelo. 

BERTHRONG  ANDERSON. 

Sworn  before  me  this 
15th  day  of  June, 
1808. 

JOSHUA  BARKER,  SjiecialJusticc. 


Adjourned  until  this  day  a  week,  at  four  o'clock,  P.  M. 


^^York^'1""'^  SS'  J°smiaSecor  being  sworn, deposeth 
and  saith,  that  some  time  during  the  winter  of  the  year,  as 
he  believes,  1807,  he  delivered  the  above  named  Lucy  Wil- 
liams of,  as  he  believes,  a  male  child — That  the  said  Lucy 
then  was  at  the  house  of  Philip  Sering,  at  the  corner  of  Wil- 
liam and  George-streets — That  the  said  child  was  quite  of  a 
light  color,  but  that  children  of  black  parents  generally  are 
whiter  when  first  born  than  when  they  grow  up.  He  believes 
that  the  father  of  the  said  child  could  not  have  been  darker 
than  the  mother— That  children  of  black  parents  generally 
turn  black  within  about  nine  months  after  the  birth — That 
the  shade  or  color  of  a  dark  man  and  a  light  man  is  generally 
between  the  two— That  at  the  time  the  said  child  was 
born,  he  supposed  that  it  had  been  begotten  by  a  white 
man. 

JOSHUA  SECOR. 

Sworn  before  me  this  7 
28th  of  June,  1808.  5 

CltyYork^Wm\  ss'  GeorSe  Anthon  of  the  city  of  New-York, 
physician,  being  sworn,  deposeth  and  saith,  that  upon  exami- 
nation of  the  said  child  and  its  mother,  he  verily  believes  that 
the  child  could  not  be  begotten  by  a  black  man,  particularly 
judging  from  its  hair  which  has  every  appearance  of  its  being 

the  offspring  of  a  white  person,  and  that  is  his  opinion  :  

The  hair  of  the  mother  being  woolly,  and  that  of  the  child 
not  so,  but  having  every  appearance  of  the  hair  of  a  white 
person. 

GEORGE  ANTHON. 

Sworn  before  me  this 
28th  of  June,  1808. 

York?'6™  \  ss'  Ph^P  Sering  being  duly  sworn,  deposeth 
and  saith,  that  either  a  few  days  before  Christmas,  in  the 
year  1806,  or  the  first  of  January  1807,  the  said  Lucy  Wil- 
liams came  to  board  at  his  house  and  was  there  three  weeks 
and  four  days,  and  then  was  delivered  of  the  child  in  question. 


'  9 

twkf^  \  SSt  Phillis  Morris  bein*  sworn  sa'lth>  tliat  lasl 
summer  a  year  ago,  in  water-melon  time,  the  said  Whistelo 
and  Lucy  both  boarded  at  her  house,  said  Lucy  was  pregnant 
at  that  time,  being  advanced  about  three  months — That  she 
heard  the  said  Alexander  say  that  the  said  Lucy  was  with 
child  by  him — That  the  said  Lucy  and  Alexander  used  to 
sleep  together  as  man  and  wife. 

York'*™'  \  SSt  ^av^  Hosack  M.D*  being  sworn,saith  that 
upon  examination  of  the  skin  and  hair  of  the  said  child  and 
of  its  mother,  he  verily  believes  that  the  said  child  is  not  the 
offspring  of  a  black  man  but  rather  that  it  must  have  been 
begotten  by  a  white  man,  or  a  light  mulatto  man< — That  he 
has  no  doubt  of  it  on  his  mind. 

DAVID  HOSACK. 

Sworn  before  me  this  } 
29th  of  June,  1808. 5 

^  Y^k'tUm\ **'  -^dam  ^av  Demg  sworn,  saith,  that 
sometime  since  he  met  the  above  named  Lucy  Williams 
in  Chatham-street,  and  had  some  conversation  with  her  on 
the  subject  of  her  said  child  ;  in  which  witness  asked  her 
why  she  had  taken  the  said  child  away  from  mrs.  Gaufs*  ? 
to  which  she  replied,  that  Whistelo  would  not  own  the 
child  at  first,  and  now  he  shall  not  have  it,  for  the  child  is 
none  of  his,  or  words  of  that  import. 

ADAM  RAY, 

Sworn  before  us  this  } 
29th  June,  1808.  5 

July  20th,  1808. 

PRESENT, 

J.    BARKER,    &  J.   DE  LA  MONTAGNIE. 

^  York™' \  WriSht  Post>  of  the  cit?  of  New*Ycrk' 
physician  and  surgeon,  being  duly  sworn,  deposeth  and 
saith,  that  on  examining  the  child  above  spoken  of,  and  its 


9 


mother,  or  Lxlcy  Williams,  who  is  said  to  be  the  mother  3 
he  is  of  opinion  that  the  said  child  has  not  been  begotten 
by  the  said  Alexander  Whistelo :  the  reason  why  he  be- 
lieves so  is,  that  when  persons  of  different  colors  have  con- 
nection together,  their  offspring  is  generally  of  a  color  ap- 
proaching to  a  mixture  of  both  the  father  and  mother. 

°Yar^'W'  \  ss'  ^amue^  Borrowe  says,  he  is  of  opinion 
that  Alexander  Whistelo  is  not  the  father  of  the  said  child, 
and  that  he  supposes  the  father  of  said  child  to  be  a  white 
man. 

°York'W~  \  ss'  Samuel  L.  Mitchill  says,  that  he  thinks 
there  is  a  possibility,  nay,  a  probability,  that  the  said  child 
has  been  begotten  by  the  said  Alexander  Whistelo. 

°Yorkii"  \  ss'  Edward  Miller  says,  that  it  may  or  may 
not  be  Whistelo's  child,  the  hair  and  complexion  are  a- 
gainst  it ;  but  the  thick  lips  and  flat  nose  are  an  indication 
of  the  father's  being  an  african. 

Seeing  that  the  justices  differed  in  opinion  upon  the  evi- 
dence, and  considering  that  at  all  events  their  judgment 
was  not  final,  it  was  agreed  between  mr.  Vanhook,  the  at- 
torney for  the  Commissioners  of  the  Alms-house,  and  mr. 
Nitchie,  attorney  for  the  defendant ;  that  the  case  should  be 
referred  to  the  Mayor,  Recorder,  and  certain  of  the  alder- 
men ;  and  that  it  should  stand  upon  the  same  footing  as 
if  it  had  been  originally  brought  before  them :  that  Whis- 
telo should  give  security  to  abide  their  order  in  case  the 
child  was  adjudged  to  be  his,  if  adjudged  otherwise  that 
he  should  be  discharged. 


B 


ft 


THURSDAY,  August  J8,  1808. 

Present,  The  Mayor,  Recorder,  and  Aldermen  Molt, 
Bingham,  and  Drake. 

The  cause  came  on  pursuant  to  the  adjournment; 

Mr.  Vaxhook,  counsel  for  the  Commissioners  of  the 
Alms-house,  made  a  short  opening  of  the  case.    He  said 
the  points  upon  which  it  had  been  drawn  into  doubt,  and 
which  occasioned  the  reference  to  the  decision  of  this 
court-  were  two— First,  whether  the  witness  was  to  be  be- 
lieved— Secondly,  whether  the  fact  she  swore  to  was  pos- 
sible. He  observed  that  although  many  witnesses  of  learn- 
ing and  experience  in  such  subjects  had  been  called  to 
give  their  opinions  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  court,  yet  he 
conceived  it  to  be  a  matter  on  whicji  technical  knowledge 
could  not  throw  much  light ;  and  that  each  of  the  members 
who  composed  the  court  were  as  well  able  to  form  a  cor- 
rect opinion  as  any  professional  man  whatever.    The  wo- 
man had  already  sworn  positively;  and  evidence  of  opinion 
that  went  to  contradict  a  positive  oath  should  be  received 
with  many  grains  of  caution — the  more  so,  as  those 
opinions  would  probably  be  opposed  by  others  of  very  great 
authority.  But  he  thought,  unless  the  woman  could  be  other- 
wise discredited,  such  opinions,  opposed  to  positive  testi- 
mony, were  of  little  weight,  and  ought  to  fall  to  the  ground. 

Lucy  Williams  was  then  called  and  sworn  ; — the  child 
and  the  reputed  father,  Whistelo,  were  also  produced. 

Question,  by  Vanhook — Do  you  know  Alexander  Whis- 
telo. 

Ansiver.  Yes. 

Q.  Tell  the  court  whether  he  visited  you ;  at  what  time  ; 
and  what  the  result  was. 

A.  It  will  be  two  years  this  August  since  the  time  I  first 
saw  him  ;  he  then  told  me  he  was  a  married  man  divorced 


from  his  wife,  and  never  intended  to  live  with  her  again. 

Q.  Did  he  say  he  wished  to  marry  you. 

A.  Yes  ;  both  before  he  went  to  sea  and  after  he  came 
back.  He  told  others  so  also— he  told  mrs.  Hoffman, 
and  > 

Q.  Did  you  consent  to  marry  him,  or  did  you  refuse.  • 

A.  I  refused ;  for  I  did  not  chuse  to  have  him — I  did 
not  love  him.  He  then  carried  me  to  a  bad  house,  and 
locked  the  door — I  scuffled  with  him  a  long  time,  but  at 
last  he  worried  me  out.  He  went  after  that  to  sea,  and 
after  he  came  back  I  told  him  I  was  with  child. 

Q.  When  was  the  child  born. 

A.  The  23rd  of  January,  1807. 

Q.  What  was  the  day  on  which  the  affair  you  have  rela- 
ted took  place. 

A.  The  13th  of  April,  1806,  on  Sunday  evening.  Whis- 
telo  first  took  the  child  to  himself;  but  afterwards  when 
they  put  it  into  his  head  that  it  was  not  his,  he  refused  to 
maintain  it. 

Cross-examined  by  Morton* 
Q.  Did  he  ever  say  it  was  his  child. 
A.  No  ;  but  he  took  it  at  first. 

Q.  You  say  you  became  acquainted  with  him  in  August, 
1806,  how  do  you  know  the  child  was  got  on  the  13th  of 
April — -how  long  after  that  was  it  till  Whistelo  went  to 
sea. 

A.  On  the  1st  of  May  following. 

Q.  WThen  did  you  next  see  him. 

A.  Not  till  the  4th  of  August  following. 

Q.  WThen  did  you  first  perceive  that  you  were  pregnantj 

A.  Before  his  return. 

Q.  How  did  you  know  it. 

A.  By  feeling  life. 

Q.  When  did  you  first  feel  that  symptom. 

A.  Near  two  months  before  he  returned. 

Q.  Then  it  was  one  month  after  he  went  away, 


A.  Yes. 

Q.  Did  he  not  go  a  third  time  to  sea. 

A.  Yes,  in  October  :  and  he  was  gone  for  the  fourth 
time  about  eight  days  when  the  child  was  born. 

Q.  You  went  to  a  bad  house — how  do  you  know  it  was  a 
bad  house  where  he  took  you. 

A.  Because  no  other  would  take  in  a  man  with  a  strange 
woman  in  that  manner. 

Q.  Then  you  went  to  a  bad  house  knowingly  with  him. 

A.  I  thought  he  was  taking  me  to  his  cousin  mrs. 
Goughs. 

Q.  Were  you  always  constant  to  him  in  his  absence : 
were  you  never  unfaithful  to  him  when  he  was  away. 
A.  I  never  did  when  he  was  at  sea. 
Q.  Had  you  not  a  white  man  in  bed  with  you. 
A.  I  had  a  scuffle  with  one  once — I  knocked  off  his  hat. 

The  witness  being  pressed  by  the  examination  of  mr. 
Morton,  at  length  confessed  that  such  a  person  had  been  in 
bed  with  her  :  that  he  had  turned  the  black  man  out  with 
a  pistol,  and  taken  his  place — that  they  had  a  connexion  ; 
but  she  said  she  was  sure  they  had  made  no  one  young 
one,  for  they  JU  (fought)  all  the  while.  She  said  if  the 
clerk  had  been  at  home  he  would  not  have  used  her  so. 

Q.  Why.    Did  you  cry  out. 
A.  No,  I  did  not  hollo. 

Q.  Then  what  did  you  do  to  prevent  him  from  execu* 
ting  his  purpose. 

A.  I  bid  him  be  quiet. 

Q.  Is  the  child  a  boy  or  a  girl. 

A.  A  girl. 

Q.  Of  what  color  were  your  parents. 

A.  My  father  was  white,  he  was  a  Scotchman,  a  servant ; 
and  my  mother  was  a  dark  sambo. 

Q.  How  did  the  scuffling  end — you  understand  me—* 
did  you  part  friends  with  the  white  man. 


13 


J.  He  owes  me  four  dollars  which  he  would  not  pay 
me. 

Q.  Was  that  your  charge. 

A.  He  owes  it  to  me  for  wages- 

Q.  But  you  took  it  out  in  scuffling. 

Dr.  Kissam  sworn.— -After  examining  those  parts  of  the 
child  which  particularly  indicate  the  color  of  the  race, 
said,  he  should  not  suppose,  judging  from  the  general  rules 
of  experience,  that  it  was  the  child  of  that  black  man  ;  but 
on  the  contrary  of  one  of  lighter  complexion  than  the  mo- 
ther. Black  persons  are  almost  white  at  their  birth,  but 
change  soon  after. 

Question,  by  Samfison — How  soon  is  the  change  general- 
ly  complete,  and  their  true  color  decided. 

A.  Generally  about  eight  or  nine  months.  Within  the 
year  it  is  complete. 

Doctor  Hosack  sworn — From  the  appearance  of  the  fa- 
ther, the  mother,  and  the  child,  and  the  laws  of  nature  which 
he  had  uniformly  observed  in  such  cases,  he  certainly  would 
not  take  it  for  the  child  of  a  black  man.  But  would  say  it 
was  that  of  a  white  one,  or  at  most  of  a  very  fair  mulatto. 

Cross-examined,  by  Vanhook. 

Q  Has  it  not  some  of  the  features  of  a  negro. 

A,  If  its  features  in  my  judgment  were  those  of  a  negro, 
I  should  not  have  given  the  opinion  I  did. 

Q.  Dr.  Hosack,  might  it  not  be  possible,  judging  after 
your  reading  or  experience  in  such  matters,  that  in  the  ear- 
ly stage  of  pregnancy  the  agitation  of  the  mother's  mind, 
irritation,  terror,  or  surprise,  might  alter  in  some  degree 
the  nature  and  appearance  of  the  child. 

A.  I  am  not  of  that  opinion. 

Question  by  Morton — What  is  the  period  at  which  a  mo- 
ther becomes  sensible  of  her  pregnancy,  (as  the  witness 
calls  it)  by  feeling  life. 


u 


A.  From  three  to  four  months  ;  but  four  more  common- 
ly than  three — at  three  it  very  rarely  happens. 

Several  questions  were  put  to  this  witness  by  mr.  Nitchie 
touching  the  albinos,  their  livid  color,  and  symptoms  of  dis- 
ease and  debility,  with  a  view  to  obviate  an  attempt  to  ac- 
count for  the  fairness  of  this  child  by  such  analogy.  The 
witness  answered  that  their  entire  appearance  showed 
them  to  be  exceptions  to  the  ordinary  laws  of  generation. 

Dr.  Post  sworn — From  the  appearance  of  the  child  he 
would  suppose  it  the  offspring  of  a  white  man  and  a  mulat- 
to woman,  or  of  two  light-colored  persons.  He  could  dis- 
cern none  of  the  features  of  a  negro  in  it.  There  were  in- 
stances of  black  men  with  black  women  producing  children 
as  fair  as  this ;  but  they  were  exceptions  to  the  general 
laws  of  nature.  His  opinion  was,  that  this  was  not  the 
child  of  Whistelo.  What  confirmed  him  most  of  all  was 
the  color  and  straightness  of  the  hair.  Being  questioned 
as  to  the  albinos,  answered  he  never  had  seen  any  of  them, 
bnt  from  what  he  has  learned  from  books  and  conversation 
is  convinced  that  there  is  no  analogy. 

Dr.  Seaman  sworn — T  should  not  heKeve  the  negro  to  be 
the  father  of  that  child. 

Dr.  Tillary  sworn— Was  fully  of  opinion  with  the  other 
gentleman — could  not  conceive  this  the  child  of  a  black 
man.  He  had  no  principles  of  physiology  nor  philosophical 
data  to  lay  down  touching  ticks  of  that  sort. 

Dr.  Moore  and  Dr.  Ant hon  Declared  themselves  of  the 
same  opinion. 

Dr.  Secor  Saw  the  child  in  question  at  its  birth,  it  was 
then  quite  white  ;  from  its  appearance  at  that  time  and 
now,  he  is  of  opinion  that  it  is  the  child  of  a  white  man. 

Dr.  Williamson  Said  he  had  seen  and  observed  both  the 
man  and  the  woman.    If  this  was  the  child  of  that  woman 


IS 


by  that  man  it  is  a  prodigy,  and  he  did  not  believe  that  pro- 
digies happened,  though  daily  experience  unfortunately 
proved  that  perjuries  did. 

Dr.  Osborne,  Who  from  a  long  residence  to  the  south- 
ward, had  had  the  most  ample  means  of  observing  all  the 
varieties  that  these  mixtures  of  race  occasion ;  but  had  never 
seen  any  fact  that  could  warrant  him  to  suppose  this  the 
child  of  a  black  man.  He  had  seen  albinos',  but  this  child 
bore  no  resemblance  to  them.  They  were  always  distin- 
guishable by  the  red  dotted  iris  and  the  tremulous  move- 
ment of  the  eyes.  Never  had  seen  the  produce  of  african 
parents,  with  hair  such  as  this.  He  had  seen  some  with 
fair  or  yellowish  hair,  but  that  was  peculiar. 

Mr.  Furman  keefier  of  the  Alms-house,  Testified  that  he 
had  received  an  order  to  take  the  child  and  place  it  on 
the  books.  The  black  man,  Whistelo,  took  the  child,  but 
said  at  the  same  time  that  it  was  not  his. 

Br.  De  Witt  Said  he  should  have  no  doubt  that  it  was  the 
child  of  a  white  man. 

Adam  Ray,  a  black,  Knew  of  Whistelo  having  taken  the 
child  to  board,  and  of  the  mother  having  it  carried  away.  He 
asked  her  reasons  for  taking  it  back  ;  and  her  answer  was, 
that  since  he  would  not  own  the  child  at  first  he  should  not 
have  it  now,  for  it  was  not  his. 

Nancy  Cooke  Lived  together  with  the  witness  six  weeks- 
could  not  say  as  to  her  character,  but  saw  a  very  light  man 
in  bed  with  her.  There  were  two  beds  in  the  room  ;  Lu- 
cy Williams  had  one,  and  witness  the  other.  Witness  fell 
asleep.    Man  lay  with  Lucy  all  night. 

At  the  request  of  the  counsel  for  the  commissioners  of 
the  Alms-house,  the  cause  was  adjourned  till  Saturday,  as 
he  professed  the  hope  of  procuring  by  that  time  other  wit- 


IS 


nesses  whose  testimony  would  tend  to  throw  a  different 
light  upon  the  fact,  and  which  he  conceived  altogether  ma- 
terial and  important  to  the  ascertainment  of  the  truth. 

After  some  opposition  on  the  part  of  j/nr.  Morton,  who 
said  he  was  under  the  necessicy  of  goini*  out  of  town,  the 
cause  was  adjourned,  and  mr.  Sampson,  who  was  present 
in  court,  was  engaged  to  assist  mr.  Nitchie  in  the  further 
investigation  of  evidence,  and  to  sum  up  on  behalf  of  the 
defendant. 

SATURDAY,  August  20. 

Present,  The  Mayor,  Recorder,  and  Aldermen  Mott, 
Bingham,  and  Drake. 

Dr.  MitchiU,  sworn, — .the  woman,  the  child  and  the  de- 
fendant produced  The  witness  was  first  examined  in  chief 

by  mr.  Vanhook  on  the  part  of  the  Commissioners  of  the 
Alms-house. 

Counsel.  From  your  observations  upon  those  persons, 
Dr.  Mitchill,  and  from  what  you  know  of  this  case,  be  so 
good  to  state  your  belief,  whether  that  child  is  or  is  not  the 
child  of  that  black  man. 

Witness.  It  is  then  expected  that  I  should  give  an  opinion 
touching  the  parentage  of  the  child  ? 

Counsel.  Yes,  sir;  whether  from  all  Ihe  circumstances 
you  believe  that  black  man  to  be  its  fatlier. 

Witness.  It  may  be  expected,  perhaps,  that  I  should  give 
my  reasons  for  my  opinion,  that  it  may  be  judged  upon  its 
own  merits  ? 

Counsel.  If  you  please,  doctor.  The  more  so,  as  the 
counsel  on  the  other  side  will  probably  inquire  into  them. 


17 


Witness.  There  are  three  general  rules,  as  far  as  I  un. 
derstand,  touching  the  propagation  of  men  between  the 
"white  and  black  race — First,  when  the  connexion  has  been 
between  white  and  black,  the  offspring  is  a  mulatto— second, 
when  the  child  is  produced  from  an  intercourse  between  a 
white  man  and  a  mulatto,  it  is  then  called  a  quadroon — third- 
ly, when  it  is  between  a  black  and  a  mulatto,  it  is  called  a 
sambo. 

In  the  french  and  Spanish  islands  there  are  more  minute  dis- 
tinctions ;  but  for  more  certain  information  witness  referred 
the  court  to  Bryan  Edwards'  History  of  the  British  Colonies 
in  the  West-Indies,  by  which  any  errors  of  his  memory 
might  be  corrected.  The  principle,  however,  is,  that 
the  shade  is  between  the  two  in  equal  degree  ;  and  it  is  told 
in  a  way  that  meets  my  assent,  that,  when  a  rapid  succession 
of  intercourse  has  taken  place  between  a  woman  and  two 
men  of  differen:  colors,  twins  have  been  produced  of  the  op- 
posite colors. 

Morton.  What  are  we  to  understand,  doctor,  by  rapid  sue* 
cession  ? 

Answer.  When  a  white  man  succeeds  to  a  black,  or  a 
black  to  a  white  almost  instantaneously. 

Question.  Do  not  accidental  causes  sometimes  operate  a 
change  on  the  foetus  at  or  after  the  time  of  conception. 

Answer.  Yes,  sir. 

Question.  Will  you  be  good  enough  to  describe  them. 

Answer.  The  changes  which  take  place  in  the  human 
form  during  the  time  of  conception  are  reducible  to  three 
heads,  according  to  the  observations  of  D'Azara  in  his  his- 
tory of  the  quadrupedes  of  Paraguay — First,  when  there  is 
an  alteration  of  complexion  so  as  to  render  the  skin  of  a 
black,,  while,  or  other  variety  of  color — Second,  when  the 

C 


IS 


cause  or  agency  manifests  its  power  by  frizzling  or  curling 
the  hair  or  feathers,  this  is  termed  crispation — Third,  when 
the  same  constitutional  change  shows  itself  by  a  loss  of  hair 
or  plumage  so  as  to  leave  a  naked  skin,  it  is  called  peeling. 
Of  these  three  effects  the  last  occurs  but  seldom  ;  the  second 
pretty  often  ;  and  the  first  is  very  frequent  indeed,  showing 
that  it  is  a  much  more  difficult  process  for  nature  to  eradi- 
cate hair  or  feathers  than  to  curl  them,  and  more  difficult  to 
twist  than  to  change  their  color.  If  it  be  of  any  importance 
to  investigate  minutely  these  points,  they  will  be  found  at 
length  in  the  work  I  have  mentioned.  These  accidents, 
says  that  author,  may  befall  every  man,  every  quadrupede, 
and  every  bird,  to  a  greater  degree  in  some  than  in  others, 
and  become  permanent  in  the  race  by  propagation  from  one 
generation  to  another  without  end. 

With  this  view,  it  would  appear  that  with  respect  to  the 
rule  we  first  laid  down  touching  the  color  of  men,  there  are 
a  vast  number  of  exceptions,  which  exceptions  I  shall  class 
under  the  three  last  mentioned  heads.  It  is  only  by  compa- 
ring those  facts  with  the  case  before  the  court  and  applying 
the  observations  which  they  furnish,  that  we  can  pronounce 
an  opinion  ;  for  as  to  reasoning  a  priori  upon  such  a  subject, 
neither  the  court,  nor  I,  nor  any  other  witness  that  can  be 
brought,  can  know  any  thing  of  the  matter.  The  most  that 
I  can  do  is  to  state  facts  that  I  know,  and  from  them  give 
my  opinion  upon  the  probability  of  the  case.  The  woman 
here  swears  the  black  man  to  be  the  father  of  the  child  

Morten.  Doctor,  I  am  sorry  to  interrupt  you ;  but  it  is 
necessary  I  should  remind  you  that  the  witnesses  are  only 
called  to  give  testimony,  not  to  observe  upon  it — that  will  be 
the  duty  of  the  counsel  in  summing  up. 

Witness.  In  estimating  this  case  according  to  the  excep- 
tions laid  down,  and  which  I  have  observed  are  so  frequent, 
aital  often  so  widely  deviating  from  the  general  rule,  I  con- 
ceive that  it  violates  no  probability  to  suppose  this  child  the 


4 

19 


offspring  of  the  connexion  between  the  woman  and  the  black 
man.  The  mother,  who  knows  most  of  the  matter,  has 
deposed  to  that  fact,  and  it  is  not  in  itself  incredible.  I  have, 
therefore,  no  hesitation  to  say,  according  to  the  best  of  my 
judgment,  as  the  evidence  of  the  woman  is  positive,  and 
the  fact  she  swears  to  violates  no  probability,  I  should,  were 
I  in  the  place  ©f  the  court,  confirm  the  rule. 

Morton.  Doctor,  you  must  excuse  me — before  you  seem- 
ed inclined  to  do  the  office  of  counsel,  and  now  that  of  the 
judge. 

Cross-examination. 
Question  by  Morton.  This  case  you  say,  doctor,  violates 
no  probability.  Are  we  to  understand  from  that  that  it  is  a 
possible  case  or  a  probable  one  ?  or  let  me  ask  you,  ac- 
cording to  your  own  principles,  which  is  most  probable,  leav- 
ing the  woman's  evidence  out  of  the  question,  that  this  should 
be  the  child  of  a  black  or  a  white  man. 

Answer.  Prima  facie  I  should  say  it  was  a  case  under  the 
general  rule.  If  I  did  not  adhere  to  the  rule  it  would  be  on 
account  of  the  circumstances  attending  the  case,  which  I 
take  to  be  an  exception  ;  for  if  I  have  no  knowledge  of  any 
matters  which  go  positively  to  contradict  the  woman's  testi- 
mony, I  should  naturally  lean  towards  it. 

Question.  Do  you  consider  this  case  as  having  any  affinity 
with  what  is  called  albinage. 

Answer.  I  have  not  much  experience  on  the  subject  of 
albinos,  as  my  residence  has  been  chiefly  in  New-York, 
where  such  accidents  rarely  occur.  But  I  have  known  in- 
stances of  negroes  turning  white  where  there  was  no  symp- 
tom of  disease  or  sickness. 

Morton.  Have  the  goodness,  doctor,  to  relate  them. 


20 


The  witness  then  related  the  case  of  Henry  Moss..  The 
Reporter  having  since  obtained  the  original  note  of  that  case 
in  the  witnesses'  hand-writing,  for  more  certainty  thinks  it 
proper  to  insert  it  literally. 

moss's  case. 

*  Some  time  in  the  year  1792,  Henry  Moss,  who  was 
born  of  black  parents,  and  as  black  himself  as  negroes  gene- 
rally are,  began  to  grow  white.    The  first  whiteness  began 
about  the  nails  of  the  fingers ;  but  in  the  course  of  the 
change  none  of  them  have  fallen  off,  except  those  of  the  lit- 
tle toes.    There  has  been  no  scabbiness,  ulceration  or  fall- 
ing off  of  the  cuticle — nor  could  this  covering  be  removed 
by  rubbing,  washing  or  chafing.    The  whiteness  has  spread 
over  the  whole  body,  neck,  shoulders  and  arms,  and  down 
the  thighs  and  legs.    Some  brownness  remains  in  his  face, 
hands  and  feet.    He  thinks  his  sense  of  touch  more  acute 
than  it  used  to  be ;  and  his  feelings  so  sharpened  that  he  is 
more  readily  affected  by  solar  warmth  than  he  formerly  was, 
being  able,  while  he  was  black,  to  support  great  degrees  of 
sun-shining  heat.    A  change  has  taken  place  in  his  sight. 
He  has  had  no  sickness  before  or  during  this  alteration  of  co- 
lor to  account  for  it.    The  skin  is  of  the  white  carnation  hue, 
and  the  blue  veins  plainly  visible  through  it.  The  rete  muco- 
aum  seems  to  have  undergone  the  principal  change.  His 
woolly  hair  is  filling  out  and  straight  hair  coming  in  its 
place  on  his  head  ;  and  the  same  thing  has  already  happen- 
ed on  his  legs.    He  observes  his  flesh  is  now  less  disposed 
to  heal  from  wounds  and  cuts  than  it  used  to  be. 

Q.  Are  there  no  other  facts  which  influence  your  opinion- 

The  witness  here  mentioned  two  other  cases,  which  for 
the  reason  above  given,  the  Reporter  copies  literally  from  the 
Medical  Repository. 

Maurice's  case. 
"  A  young  negro,  named  Maurice,  aged  twenty-five  years, 
began,  about  seven  years  ago,  to  lose  his  native  color.  A 


21 

white  spot  appeared  on  the  right  side  of  his  belly,  which  is 
now  about  as  large  as  the  pulms  of  two  hands.  Another 
white  spot  has  appeared  on  his  breast,  and  several  more  on 
his  arms  and  other  parts  ;  and  the  sable  cloud  is  plainly  dis- 
appearing on  his  shoulder.  The  skin  of  these  fair  spots  is 
not  surpassed  by  the  european  complexion.  His  general 
health  is  and  has  been  good  j  and  he  has  suffered  no  scalding 
ulceration,  scabbiness,  or  other  local  disease.  The  change  is 
not  the  dead  white  of  the  albinos,  but  is*a  good  wholesome 
carnation  hue.  Such  an  alteration  of  color  as  this,  militates 
powerfully  against  the  opinion  adopted  by  some  modern  phi- 
losopers,  that  the  negroes  are  a  different  species  of  the  human 
race  from  the  whites,  and  tends  strongly  to  corroborate  the 
probability  of  the  derivation  of  all  the  varieties  of  mankind 
from  a  single  pair.  Facts  of  this  kind  are  of  great  value  to  the 
zoologist.  How  additionally  singular  would  it  be,  if  instan- 
ces of  the  spontaneous  disappearance  of  this  sable  mark  of 
distinction  between  slaves  and  their  masters  were  to  become 
frequent !  They  would  then  be  no  less  important  to  the  mo- 
ralist and  political  economist." 

pompey's  case. 

«  Pompey,  a  very  healty  negro,  of  about  twenty-six  years 
of  age,  about  two  years  since  discovered  on  Iris  right  thigh  a 
small  white  spot,  which,  from  that  to  the  present  time,  has 
been  constantly  increasing  to  the  size  of  nearly  a  half-crown 
piece;  while  there  have  appeared,  on  other  parts  of  his  body, 
other  spots,  to  the  number  of  twelve,  of  different  sizes,  but  all 
constantly  and  gradually  enlarging.  In  several  of  the  spots 
the  margin  is  perfectly  defined,  from  a  distinct  line  between 
the  clear  white  and  the  natural  color.  In  others  there  are 
circumscribed  rings  of  a  dun  appearance,  the  external  mar- 
gin of  which  is  very  regular.  I  have  the  fullest  belief  that  a 
very  few  years  will  complete  the  total  change." 

Q.  Was  there  not  some  other  case  which  you  mentioned 
before  the  police-office. 


22 


A.  I  mentioned  somewh.H  jocularly  the  loves  of  Theagines 
and  Chariclea.  Chariclea  was  a  beautiful  and  fair  virgin,  of 
ethiopean  parents.  Her  whiteness  was  occasioned  by  her 
looking  on  a  statue  of  Venus. 

Question  by  the  Mayor — About  what  time,  doctor,  might 
that  have  happened. 

A.  The  work  is  written  by  aachristian  bishop,  Heliodorus, 
who  wrote  about  the  fourth  century.  It  was  the  first  novel 
I  ever  read,  and  made  a  great  impression  on  me. 

Q.  As  to  those  cases  in  which  the  agency  of  some  exter- 
nal objects  upon  the  mother's  imagination  produces  an  entire 
change  in  the  foetus,  have  you  any  facts  within  your  own 
knowledge. 

A.  There  was  a  man  in  the  city  of  New-York,  who  kept  a 

cow. 

Q.  Will  you  tell  the  court,  doctor,  the  story  of  that  cow. 

A.  The  cow  was  a  favorite  with  the  wife  of  the  man  ;  but 
he  found  it  more  convenient  to  kill  her  than  to  keep  her. 

Q.  And  how  did  the  death  of  the  cow  influence  the  birth 
of  the  child. 

A.  The  cow,  affording  a  larger  supply  of  provisions  than 
was  required  for  family  consumption,  he  sold  part  and  reserv- 
ed the  rest. 

Counsel.  Very  well,  sir,  be  so  good  as  to  relate  the  rest. 

Witness.  Among  the  parts  that  were  reserved,  were  the 
feet.  The  wife  saw  them  hanging  up  in  a  mangled  state. 
It  was  the  first  news  she  had  of  the  death  of  her  favorite 
cow  ;  and  she  was  so  vehemently  moved  and  so  shocked,  as 
to  affect  the  child  of  which  she  was  then  pregnant. 

Q.  And  what  was  the  result. 


23 


A.  The  child  was  bom  without  any  arms,  and  with  distor- 
ted feet. 

Q.  Did  you  ever  converse  with  the  father  or  mother  of  the 
child. 

A.  I  did  not.  But  the  child  is  still  alive;  and  there  is  no 
doubt  of  the  fact. 

Q.  Have  you  examined  the  child. 

A.  I  saw  it  once  as  I  passed,  playing  with  a  coopers' 
shaving  knife  between  its  toes.  I  stopped  to  inquire,  and 
was  told  the  story. 

Q.  Is  there  no  other  case,  ancient  or  modern,  to  support 
ibis  theory  :  Is  there  nothing  in  verse  or  prose. 

A.  There  is  a  case,  called  the  black  case,  in  Haddington's 
poems.  He  was  a  lord  of  sessions,  or  other  considerable 
man  in  Scotland.  The  story  runs  thus There  was  a 
man  who  followed  the  profession  of  an  attorney,  or  a  scriv- 
ener, who  had  a  very  amorous  wife.  But  he  had  not 
leisure  to  attend  to  all  her  gaieties.  Once,  that  he  was  una- 
ble otherwise  to  free  himself  from  her  opportunity,  in  toying 
with  her  he  upset  his  ink-bottle  in  her  shoes.  She  brought 
him  a  black  child  in  consequence.  He  reproached  her,  but 
she  reminded  him  of  the  ink-bottle,  and  of  his  awkwardness. 

There  is  also  the  story  told  by  Malebranche,  of  the  woman 
who  saw  a  man  broken  on  the  wheel,  and  bore  a  mangled  and 
disjointed  child. 

If  such  changes  as  the  last  are  true  (and  there  is  strong 
authority  for  it)  then  the  mere  change  of  color  or  complexion 
is  not  difficult  to  believe. 

The  cross-examination  of  doctor  Mitchill  was  continued 
by  mr.  Sampson ;  and  extending  to  a  variety  of  topics,  pro- 
duced much  anecdote  and  repartee. 


n 

The  subject  of  the  albinos  was  fully  discussed.  Their 
Feeble  structure—weak  eyes — leprous  appearance — their 
being  found  chiefly  in  low  latitudes  :  and  the  Chacrelas  of  Ja- 
va, the  Bedas  of  Ceylon,  and  the  white  indians  of  Darien, 
were  instanced  ;  who  are  all  within  the  18th  degrees  of  north 
or  south  latitude.  Mi*.  Buflba's  opinion  was  cited,  that  they 
were  not  a  distinct  race,  but  individuals  degenerating  from 
black  to  an  adulterated  white  :  supposing  the  blacks  to  have  de- 
generated originally  from  white  to  black.  But  as  it  was  ad- 
mitted, that  the  whiteness  of  this  child  bears  no  resemblance 
to  that  of  the  albinos,  and  cannot  be  explained  on  the  same 
principles,  it  is  unnecessary  to  pursue  all  the  details  of  the 
examination  on  that  point. 

The  proximate  cause  of  the  fairness  of  the  albinos,  was 
stated  to  be  the  absence  of  the  rets  mucosum^  which  gives 
color  to  the  black  men  :  and  the  dots  an  .1  redness  of  the  eyes 
in  albinos'  was  supposed  owing  to  organic  debility,  which 
admits  of  extravasation  of  the  blood,  and  of  its  lodging  in 
globules  in  the  iris.  Tiie  want  of  that  rete  mucosum,  which 
fortifies  the  eye  of  the  negro  against  the  sun's  glare,  is  the 
reason  at  once  why  the  eyes  of  an  albino  are  unable  to  bear 
the  sun,  and  more  fitted  to  see  by  night. 

Mr.  Sampson  mentioned  the  two  children  of  Chamouni,  or 
albinos  of  the  Alps,  with  whom  he  had  frequently  conversed. 
He  compared  their  eyes  to  those  of  owls  and  other  animals, 
fitted  for  night  or  long  twilight,  which  called  forth  an  anec- 
dote from  the  witness  of  a  numerous  flight  of  white  artic 
owls,  which  had  some  years  ago  visited  this  city,  remained 
some  fime  and  then  disappeared,  having  never  leer,  heard  of 
before  or  since.  The  witness  also  mentioned  the  white  spar- 
rows of  Sweden,  the  hares  of  Albany,  and  a  white  bird  with 
which  he  had  been  regaled  in  Canada,  whose  flesh  was  very 
delicate.  But  to  a  question  put  by  the  counsel,  be  answered 
that  he  had  never  seen  a  race  of  white  deaf  dogs. 


Mr.  Sampson  then  apprised  the  witness  that  since  Iris 


29 


opinions  were  likely  to  be  unfavorable  to  the  side  he  was  tc 
advocate,  he  must  avail  himself  of  the  privilege  of  cross-ex- 
amination. It  would  be  necessary  with  so  learned  a  witness 
to  say,  that  the  adverb  cross  was  not  to  be  taken  in  the 
vulgar  acceptation.  Cross  was  in  contradiction  to  direct ; 
and  cross-examination  meant  only  an  indirect  examination. 
The  ignorant,  who  take  things  in  the  wrong  sense,  often 
show  ill-humor,  and  put  themselves  in  an  attitude  to  be  cross, 
because  they  are  to  be  cross-examined.  With  the  candid 
and  enlightened,  it  proves  often  an  agreeable  mode  of  discus- 
sion, and  is  particularly  so  to  our  profession,  when  it  gives  us 
occasion  to  extract  from  those  of  superior  learning  know- 
ledge which  we  might  not  otherwise  have  the  means  of  ac- 
quiring. 

The  witness  expressed  great  readiness  to  answer  any  ques- 
tion for  the  satisfaction  of  the  court  or  the  counsel ;  and  the 
examination  proceeded  as  follows  : 

Counsel.  What  do  you  think,  doctor,  of  the  opinions  of  Pla- 
to, touching  the  principles  of  generation  ? 

Witness.  Do  you  mean  also  to  ask  me  Pythagoras's 
opinion  on  wild  fowl  ? 

-Counsel.  Far  be  it  from  me,  sir ;  that  question  might  serve 
to  puzzle  a  man  who  was  in  the  dark — mine  are  meant  to 
elicit  light  from  a  source  where  it  abounds. 

Witness  (bowing.)  I  do  not  know,  sir,  to  what  particular 
opinions  you  allude. 

Counsel.  To  his  triangle  of  generation,  as  well  as  to  the 
harmonies  and  mysteries  of  the  Number  Three. 

Witness.  I  have  never  devoted  any  attention  to  such 
mysteries.  A  triangle  has  three  sides  and  three  angles,  if 
you  can  find  out  the  mystery  of  that. 

Counsel  .Has  not  a  prism  three  sides  and  three  ansrles  I 
D 


26 


Witness.  It  has. 

Counsel.  Could  Plato  have  meant  that  any  thing  resenv 
bling  a  prism  could  have  an  influence  in  generation  ? 

ll'itness.  You  seem,  sir  to  have  thought  enough  upon  the 
subject  to  judge. 

Counsel.  Sometimes  the  more  we  look  the  less  we  see. 
Can  you,  upon  any  principles  of  plane  or  spheric  trigonome- 
try, produce  a  triangle  which  shall  be  flat  on  one  side  and 
round  on  the  other  ? 

JJiiness.  That,  perhaps,  is  an  irish  triangle  ;  if  so,  you  can 
produce  it  yourself.  Will  you  permit,  me  now,  sir,  to  exam- 
ine you  a  little  ? 

Counsel.  Oh,  doctor,  you  cannot  be  serious — not  surely  in 
the  face  of  the  court  I 

The  Mayor.  I  think,  mr.  Sampson,  after  the  manner  in 
which  you  have  examined  the  witness,  he  is  entitled  to  what 
he  desires. 

Counsel.  Alas,  sir,  I  am  but  a  poor  tradesman,  Jaboring 
in  my  vocation  : — if  I  let  him  wind  that  long  chain  of  causes 
and  effects  round  me,  I  shall  be  so  entangled,  I  shall  never  be 
myself  again.  It  is  play  to  him,  but  death  to  me.  I  pray 
the  court  to  let  the  shoemaker  stick  to  his  last. — Doctor,  are 
you  familiar  with  the  opinions  of  Aristotle  upon  matter  and 
motion  ? 

Wit7iess.  Your  question,  sir,  is  very  general. 

Counsel.  I  shall  be  more  particular. — Do  you  believe  that 
matter  is  the  capacity  of  receiving  form  ? 

Witness.  I  believe  there  is  a  first  cause  which  is  the  law 
to  which  all  milter  is  subject. 


Counsel.  That  first  cause  is  too  far  off  for  my  span  ;  let 


sr 

us  keep  to  one  less  remote.  Is  it  not  a  corollary  from  the 
opinion  of  Aristotle,  that  the  son  should  resemble  his  father  I 

Witness.  I  do  not  see  that  it  is. 

Counsel.  I  wish,  doctor,  I  could  establish  some  difference 
between  you  and  these  great  luminaries  of  ancient  times. 
The  authority  of  your  opinion  requires  some  such  powerful 
counterpoise. 

JVitness.  Well,  sir,  propose  your  questions. 

Counsel.  Since  I  cannot  press  these  great  men  of  antiqui- 
ty into  our  service,  I  shall  endeavor  to  find  something  in  doc- 
tor Mitchill,  to  set  off  against  doctor  Mitchill.  The  counsel 
on  the  other  side  will  not  fail  to  avail  himself  of  your  opinions 
to  the  utmost  extent,  perhaps  beyond  your  intention.  I  wish, 
therefore,  by  taking  your  opinion  touching  the  probability  of 
other  facts,  to  find  what  degree  of  belief  you  attach  to  the 
present,  and  by  establishing  a  standard  of  faith,  fix  a  bounda- 
ry line  between  us ;  and  also  to  discover  if  possible,  how 
much  light  learned  opinions  may  throw  upon  this  cause. 

Witness.  Some  years  ago  there  was  a  machine  invented, 
called  a  light  guage,  or  photometer,  which  was  to  measure 
the  degrees  both  of  light  and  shade,  but  part  of  it  always  failed 
or  broke  ;  or,  for  want  of  encouragement,  it  never  was 
brought  to  perfection. 

Counsel.  Oh  what  a  pity  i  I  once  projected  a  machine  to 
measure  happiness,  wisdom,  love,  and  other  moral  quali- 
ties and  affections  ;  but  the  ladies  secretly  discouraged  it, 
fearing  to  have  it  known  how  they  loved  the  fellows.  Since 
then  that  our  machines  are  out  of  order,  doctor,  we  must  pro- 
ceed by  the  imperfect  modes  of  our  fathers.  Are  you  ac- 
quainted with  a  story  related  by  mr.  Saussure,  of  a  ladv  of 
quality  of  Milan,  who  had  seven  sons  ? 

JVitness.  I  have  no  recollection  of  such  a  story. 


SS 


Counsel.  It  was  this  :  the  two  first  of  her  sons,  and  also 
the  two  last  had  brown  hair  and  black  eyes  j  the  three  inter* 
vening  had  blue  hair  and  red  eyes. 

Witness.  Very  possible. 

Counsel.  That  is  not  all.  The  author  accounts  for  it  in 
this  way :  that  while  the  mother  was  pregnant  with  the 
three  red-haired  and  blue-eyed  children,  she  had  also  con- 
ceived a  violent  passion  for  milk,  in  which  she  indulged  to 
excess.  This  might,  when  related  by  mr.  Saussure,  have 
passed  for  a  travellers'  story.  But  it  is  adopted  by  an  emi- 
nent physiologist,  mr,  Buzzi,  surgeon  of  the  hospital  of  Mi- 
lan.   What  would  you  infer  in  such  a  case  ?* 

Witness.  I  would  infer  that  the  milk  must  have  been  blue, 
such  as  they  sometimes  sell  mixed  with  water  ;  otherwise 
I  cannot  see  how  it  could  have  made  the  children's  eyes  blue. 

Counsel.  I  think  not,  doctor,  they  would  have  been  rather 
of  a  cream  color.  It  must  have  been  milk  and  water,  or 
skimmed  milk.  It  is  a  loss  that  the  case  does  not  mention 
which  Do  you  think  it  credible,  sir,  that  Louis  the  II. 
king  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  was  born  without  his  epider- 
mus  or  scarf-skin  ? 

*  Remarkable  eject  of  a  pregnant  mother's  imagination- 

f*  A  young  married  lady,  pregnant  with  her  second  child,  being 
with  her  parents  at  Brunswick,  in  New  Jersey  where  it  was  fixed 
she  should  lie  in,  when  that  time  drew  nigh  she  sent  to  New-York 
fpr  her  nurse,  and  having  made  every  necessary  preparation  for 
the  interesting  moment,  waited  with  tranquillity  for  a  few  days  be- 
fore it  arrived.  Nurses  generally  imploy  this  time  in  tale  telling, 
gossiping,  &c,  The  nurse  in  this  case  told,  one  afternoon,  to  the 
pregnant  lady  and  her  mother,  how  she  had  once  nursed  in  the 
family  of  a  jew,  and  how  she  saw  the  little  infant  circumcised; 
and  dwelt  upon  the  description  of  the  operation  with  great  minute- 
ness The  young  lady  sat  and  listened,  and  being  very  susceptible 
of  sympathy,  first  she'd  tears,  then  fainted.  A  day  or  two  after- 
wards she  was  delivered,  after  a  very  short  labor,  of  a  boy.  All 
went  on  very  well  till  the  next  day,  when  the  nurse  discovered  that 


29 


Witness.  It  is  not  impossible. 

Counsel.  Yet  for  a  king  to  come  without  his  skin,  that 
was  coming  very  naked  into  the  world.  What  do  you 
think  of  Zoroastres  king  of  the  Bactryans  ? 

Witness.  I  have  never  thought  about  him. 

Counsel.  Pliny  says  he  came  laughing  into  the  world- 
is  that  probable  ? 

Witness  It  would  be  an  exception  to  the  general  rule, 
for  we  generally  come  into  the  world  crying. 

Counsel.  And  seldom  go  out  of  it  laughing  :  so  that  as  the 
only  time  we  have  to  laugh  is  when  we  are  in  it,  it  is  wise 
to  profit  by  it.  Do  you  recollect  Pliny's  remark  upon  this 
king  ;  that  he  little  knew  what  a  world  he  was  coming  into, 
for  if  he  had  foreseen  his  destiny  he  would  not  have  been 
so  merry. 

Witness.  It  was  a  witty  remark  of  Pliny  if  it  was  his. 

Counsel.  Apropos.  May  I  ask  what  you  think  of  the 
opinion  of  the  great  Verulam  that  when  mothers  eat  quin- 
ces and  coriander  seed,  the  children  will  be  witty. 

Witness.  Some  persons  have  a  great  deal  of  wit,  but 
I  dont  know  how  they  came  by  it. 

Counsel.  Do  you  think,  doctor,  as  the  counsel  on  the 
other  side  does,  that  a  pistol  is  an  instrument  of  much  efnS 
cacy  in  generation  ? 

the  child's  prepuce  was  diseased.  Dr.  Scott,  of  Brunswick,  was 
immediately  sent  for.  He  came,  and  on  examination,  found  the 
it  hole  of  the  foreskin  destroyed  by  a  sphacelus  / 

"The  above  circumstance  happened  in  the  winter  of  1798  9. 
The  young  lady,  her  husband  and  child  all  died  in  the  course  of 
the  year."  [Fide  Med.  Rep.  vol.  3,  page  89. 


30 


Witness.  On  the  contrary,  sir,  a  pistol  is  generally  used 
to  take  away  life.  There  is  what  is  called  the  canon  de  la 
vie.    Do  you  mean  that  ? 

Counsel.  Of  what  color  may  that  be,  doctor  ? 

Witness.  It  may  be  black  or  white. 

Counsel.  Which  of  the  two  would  be  most  influential  on 
the  birth  of  a  white  child  ? 

Witness.  Most  probably  the  white. 

Counsel.  There  it  is  !  I  will  lay  my  life  that  is  what  the 
man  had  in  his  hand  when  the  scuffle  began,  that  so  strong- 
ly affected  the  mother.  Did  you  ever  hear  how  the  mis- 
tress of  Pope  Nicholas  III  was  brought  to  bed  of  a  young 
bear  ? 

Witness,  No,  sir ;  but  many  women  have  had  bearish 
children. 

Counsel.  After  that,  I  think  they  may  bear  any  thing.  Do 
you  find  a  great  affinity  in  what  concerns  generation  be- 
tween man  and  beast  ? 

Witness.  Undoubtedly. 

Counsel.  May  not  the  principle  of  maternal  affection  in- 
fluence in  one  as  in  the  other. 

Witness.  I  am  of  that  opinion. 

Counsel.  So  that  when  the  dutch  farmers  on  Long-Island 
plough  a  black  mare  with  a  bay  horse,  to  have  a  bay  colt, 
the  idea  is  not  unreasonable  ? 

Witness.  There  is  nothing  unreasonable  in  ploughing  a 
l)lack  mare  with  a  bay  horse  nor  in  a  black  mare  having  a 
t  <\  foal,  more  than  a  black  hen  having  a  white  egg. 


31 

Counsel.  Does  not  mr.  D'Azara  lean  to  the  notion  of  a 
primitive  color. 

Witness.  He  gives  the  philosophers  their  choice  in  sup- 
posing our  first  parents  to  have  been  either  of  white  or 
black  complexion. 

Counsel.  How  do  you  account  for  the  ring-streaking  of 
Laban's  lambs  ?  The  fact  we  cannot  doubt  we  have  it  on 
such  high  authority.  Does  it  appear  to  you  an  extraordi- 
nary interference  of  providence  in  favor  of  an  individual,  or 
can  it  be  accounted  for  by  the  principle  of  maternal  affec- 
tion, and  by  the  ordinary  laws  of  nature  1 

Witness.  By  the  ordinary  laws  of  nature. 

Counsel.  That  being  the  case,  doctor,  there  remains  only 
to  thank  you  for  the  information  you  have  given  us. 


AUGUST—  18G8. 

Dr.  Pascalis  sworn  and  examined — Said  that  the  child  in 
question  appeared  to  him  to  be  three-fourths  white  and  one- 
fourth  black — that  was  his  impression.  But  he  pronounced 
with  diffidence  upon  such  subjects,  as  he  knew  how  easy  it 
was  to  err  where  there  was  a  want  of  certain  data. 

Nature  was  uniform  in  her  works  and  faithful  to  fixed 
rules  ;  and  when  facts  are  in  dispute  or  doubt  there  is  no 
way  of  forming  an  opinion  but  by  recurring  to  those  rules 
which  experience  has  established.  Witness  had  lived  long 
in  the  WestJndies,  and  had  remarked  three  principal  char- 
acteristics of  the  negro  race,  and  all  compounded  of  it. 


First,  the  crispations  of  the  hair. 


32 


Second,  the  tele  mucosum  which  gives  the  black  hue  to 
the  skin. 

Third,  the  conformation  of  their  legs  and  feet. 

These  characterizing  marks  are  discernible  in  all  the  mix- 
tures between  black  and  white  ;  but  according  as  the  mix- 
ture participates  more  of  one  than  of  the  other,  so  naturally 
will  the  hair,  the  features,  the  complexion  and  the  structure 
of  the  limbs.  He  had  observed  further  that  in  general  when 
there  happened  in  any  one  or  more  of  these  distinguishing 
indications  a  deviation  from  the  general  rule ;  for  instance, 
wherever  the  complexion  partakes  more  of  the  White  than 
from  the  known  parentage,  it  should  be  expected  then  it 
would  be  found  that  in  some  other  of  those  indications  there 
will  be  preponderance  the  other  way. 

One  example  which  he  cited  out  of  numbers  which  he  had 
noticed,  was  the  french  general  Rigaud.  He  was  the  son  of 
a  white  man,  a  relation  of  the  witness,  by  a  black  woman. 
He  was  so  dark  as  to  differ  little  from  the  true  african  com- 
plexion ;  but  in  return  for  that,  he  had  the  features  and  form 
of  a  white  man — was  very  handsome  and  well  made.  If  this 
principle  of  nature  is  not  universal  it  is,  as  repeated  observa- 
tions had  proved  to  him,  very  general.  The  last  symptom  of 
the  negro  blood  which  disappears  is  the  crispation  of  the  hair 
and  the  setting  on  of  the  ancle,  which  he  described  in  tech- 
nical language  amounting  to  this,  that  the  leg  was  inserted 
more  forward  on  the  foot,  and  consequently  the  heel  longer. 
He,  therefore,  when  he  was  told  that  this  child  was  of  a  black 
man,  examined  it  to  discover  whether,  seeing  its  complexion 
was  so  unusually  fair,  there  were  not  some  strong  traces  of 
the  black  race  to  counterbalance  that  deviation ;  and  upon 
looking  at  the  conformation  of  its  feet  and  legs,  and  more  par- 
ticularly at  the  straitness  and  light  color  of  its  hair,  he  was  (lis- 
appointed  not  to  find  his  observation  verified ;  and  he  was  now 
of  opinion  that  it  was  not  the  offspring  of  a  black  man 


33 


He  conceived  the  woman  to  be  a  perfect  mulatto.  He  had 
known  one  instance  of  a  woman  of  mixed  blood  having  a 
white  skin  with  the  features  of  a  negro  strongly  pronoun- 
ced. • 

Cross-examined  by  Vanhook. 

Question.  Might  not  some  accident,  happening  at  the  mo- 
ment of  coition,  produce  by  its  efitcts  upon  the  woman's 
imagination  as  great  a  deviation  from  the  general  rule  as 
this. 

Witness.  Why  make  that  particular  conclusion  ?  it  would 
be  much  more  apt  if  it  produced  any  thing  to  produce  defor- 
mity or  abortion  :  but  it  would  be  too  far-fetched  to  suppose 
it  would  cloud  or  uncloud  the  skin.  Upon  the  whole,  as  I  am 
impressed,  I  must  give  my  opinion  that  it  is  not  the  black 
man's  child. 

Alderman  Barker  sa'or;?-^Stated  that  the  woman  when  ex- 
amined before  him  she  said  had  no  intercourse  with  any 
white  man.  Afterwards  she  acknowledged  she  had  had  a 
struggle  with  one. 

Mr.  O'Blenis,  clerk  of  the  fiolici',  Stated  that  after  her  ex- 
amination on  oath  was  closed  she  was  questioned  as  to  that 
fact,  and  answered  laughing  that  the  white  man  had  torn 
her  petticoat. 

Sir  James  Jay,  M.  D.  examined  by  Vdnhook,  Gave  a  de- 
cided opinion  that  it  was  not  a  black  man's  child,  asked 
whether  he  lay  much  stress  upon  the  color  and  straightness 
of  the  hair  of  the  head,  and  whether  it  might  not  yet  be- 
come like  that  of  the  mother.  He  said  it  was  not  neces- 
sary to  wait  so  many  years  as  to  see  what  conformity  there 
might  be  in  the  hair  with  the  mother.  It  was  enough  if 
the  counsel  chose  to  examine  the  mother  at  present. 

Question  by  Sampson.  Doctor,  we  have  been  deep  in  the 
mysteries  of  Lucina. 

E 


34 

Witness.  Very  good,  sir,  I  hope  you  have  profitted. 

Counsel.  No,  sir  James  ;  it  is  a  cross  birth — we  are  not 
yet  delivered  of  our  doubts.  We  want  to  know  whether 
the  Abbe  Spallenzani's  method  of  propagation  is  a  safe  and 
good  one — 'whether  there  is  not  such  a  thing  as  Lucina 
sine concubitu  ;  for,  as  it  appears,  the  black  man  could  not 
have  got  the  child  because  it  is  white,  nor  the  white  man 
because  of  the  fighting,  it  would  be  good  to  see  whether 
the  pistol-barrel  could  have  got  it. 

Witness.  Then,  sir,  you  must  inquire  elsewhere  touch- 
ing that  matter.  I  have  found  the  old  practise  good  enough 
for  me,  and  have  made  no  experiments  in  the  way  you  allude 
to. 

The  evidence  closed  here,  and  mr.  Morton  addressed  the 
court,  premising  that  it  was  his  intention  to  be  very  brief, 
and  to  confine  himself  entirely  to  the  positive  testimony 
and  the  inferences  of  law  which  it  furnished,  and  leave  to- 
the  counsel  associated  with  him  the  various  topics  of  curi- 
osity which  had  been  introduced. 

Although  this  case  was  not  of  so  grave  an  import,  nor  so 
serious  in  its  consequences  as  a  trial  for  a  rape,  yet  still  it 
was  one  in  which  the  nature  of  the  proof  should  be  equally 
certain,  as  it  went  to  inflict  what  to  a  poor  man  was  a  very 
heavy  penalty,  and  which  if  he  was  innocent  of  the  charge 
would  be  an  insupportable  oppression.  The  conviction 
here,  as  in  a  case  of  rape,  would  be  founded  upon  the  evi- 
dence of  a  woman,  who  by  the  fact  itself  might  become 
mother  to  a  bastard  child,  whose  character  for  virtue  and 
good  morals  makes  a  principal  part  of  the  consideration. 
Necessity  made  this  woman  a  witness,  for  it  is  her  own 
cause  in  which  she  is  swearing  :  but  wherever  from  policy 
such  testimony  is  admitted  against  the  great  ruling  princi- 
ple of  law,  that  «  none  shall  be  witness  in  their  own  cause, 
nor  to  swear  to  their  own  criminality,"  it  is  always  admit- 


<ed  with  extreme  caution  and  qualified  with  well- placed 
jealousy.  For  it  is  better  even  that  the  community  should 
suffer  an  inconvenience  than  an  example  of  injustice  be  set 
and  a  door  opened  to  oppression.  * 

This  woman's  evidence,  without  the  irresistible  proof 
which  the  child's  appearance  furnishes,  and  which  the 
opinion  of  so  many  skillful  men  of  profession  confirms, 
carries  with  it  its  own  refutation.  The  counsel  here  re- 
capitulated the  dates  and  epochs  fixed  by  the  woman  from 
the  time  she  first  became  acquainted  with  Whistelo  in  Au- 
gust, 1806 — his  going  to  sea  on  the  first  of  May  and  re- 
turning on  the  first  of  August — that  she  flic  life  two  months 
before  his  return,  which  was  only  one  month  from  the  time 
she  swears  to  his  having  got  her  with  child.  All  the  phy- 
sicians agree  that  that  symptom  of  pregnancy  does  not  take 
place  in  less  than  three  months,  and  that  is  more  common- 
ly four.  She  has  also  positively  contradicted  upon  one  ex- 
amination upon  oath,  what  she  positively  swore  upon  ano- 
ther. At  the  Police-Office  she  said  she  had  no  connexion 
with  the  white  man — before  this  court  she  has  acknowledged 
that  she  had. 

There  is  at  least  as  much  reason  to  charge  the  white 
man  to  be  the  father,  with  whom  she  states  on  her  oath 
that  she  had  a  connexion  within  a  few  days  after  her  first 
connexion  with  the  black.  So  short  an  interval  must  leave 
it  impossible  to  determine,  from  the  reckoning  of  time 
merely,  which  was  the  father.  If  so5  and  the  matter  was 
otherwise  in  balance,  surely  the  child  being  white  is  a  cir- 
cumstance strong  enough  to  put  it  past  all  doubt.  Another 
face  equally  conclusive  is  what  the  mother  told  the  witness 
Ray  when  she  took  back  the  child,  "  That  the  defendant  at 
first  would  not  own  it,  that  it  was  not  his,  and  that  now  he 
should  nofhave  it."  Now,  if  this  was  a  serious  crime  and 
a  criminal  prosecution,  such  evidence  would  net  weigh  a 
leather.  I  cannot  see  why  there  should  be  any  more  hesi- 
tation in  the  present  case. 


36 


After  mr.  Morton  had  finished,  another  woman  was  pro- 
duced with  her  child.  The  woman  was  a  light  mulatto,  and 
the  father  said  to  be  a  black  man. 

Sumfison.  If  this  be  to  prove  any  thing  by  comparison  it 
is  good,  provided  the  object  of  comparison  be  certain.  We 
must  have  proof  of  the  parentage  of  this  child,  otherwise  it 

is  ignctum  per  ignotius. 

Mr.  Vanhook  next,  according  to  arrangement,  sum- 
med up,  and  answered  the  observations  of  mr.  Morton, 
leaving  to  mr.  Sampson  the  reply. 

He  said,  the  arguments  did  not  convince  him  in  any  de- 
gree that  the  black  man  was  not  the  father  of  the  child. 
And  if  by  fair  reasoning  the  party  who  sued  was  entitled  to 
an  order,  the  court  would,  in  spite  of  subtle  objections  and 
raillery,  grant  it  in  furtherance  of  the  statute.  The  com- 
missioners of  the  Alms-house  had  instituted  this  suit  as 
their  duty  obliged  them,  and  the  law  directed.  The 
woman's  testimony  in  one  view  was  meritorious— -it  went 
to  discharge  the  community  from  the  burthen  of  support- 
ing a  bastard  child,  and  to  oblige  the  true  father  to  maintain 
it,  and  therefore  should  not  be  disfavored. 

Much  stress  was  laid  upon  the  time  of  her  feeling  her 
pregnancy,  but  that  was  not  sufficient  to  destroy  the  force  of 
her  positive  testimony  on  oath  ;  a  difference  or  mistake 
of  a  month  or  two,  which  may  be  a  fault  of  her  memory,  is 
not  enough  to  discredit  her.  What  she  said  at  the  police 
is  of  as  little  importance,  being  easily  reconcileable  with 
what  she  has  sworn  here.  She  said  she  had  no  connexion 
with  a  white  man,  meaning  no  such  connexion  as  could 
produce  a  child  ;  and  she  admitted  before  the  same  magis- 
trates, on  the  same  occasion,  that  she  had  a  struggle  with 
one  and  that  he  tore  her  pet'  icoat.  If  she  did  not  sav  the 
whole  of  this  when  upon  oath  at  the  time  her  depositions 
were  written  down  it  is  not  material,  she  might  not  have 


37 


been  so  particularly  questioned  till  afterwards  ;  but  viewed 
with  common  candor  there  is  no  contradiction  to  discredit 
her.  On  the  one  occasion  and  on  the  other  her  evidence 
was  this,  that  she  had  a  struggle  with  a  white  man,  but  that 
she  prevented  him  by  resistance  from  accomplishing  his 
purpose,  and  was  sure  there  could  be  no  child  born  in  con- 
sequence of  that  encounter. 

Why  did  not  the  gentleman  on  the  other  side  call  this 
white  man  ?  he  could  have  contradicted  her  if  her  testimony 
was  false. 

With  respect  to  the  alarm  with  the  pistol  and  its  possible 
effect  upon  the  mother's  imagination — that  changes  in  the 
fetus  do  happen  from  such  accidents,  stands  upon  the  high- 
est authority  ;  and  has  been  supported  in  a  way  not  to  be 
shaken,  by  doctor  Mitchill  who  has  related  facts  proved  past 
contradiction.  Doctor  Pascalis  thinks  it  far-fetched  to  sup- 
pose it  would  change  the  complexion,  but  seems  to  admit 
that  it  might  produce  abortion  or  deformity  ;  yet  the 
change  the  most  easy  of  operation  has  been  stated  to  be 
that  in  the  colour  of  the  skin.  Doctor  Mitchill  has  stated 
that  reasoning  a  priori  upon  such  subjects  is  only  pre- 
sumption ;  but  that  where  facts  of  a  certain  nature  have  a- 
risen,  it  is  possible  that  similar  facts  may  arise  from  similar 
causes,  and  he  has  given  instances  of  infinitely  greater  changes 
than  this  by  the  power  of  maternal  affection.  Certainly  to 
oppose  arbitrary  reasoning  to  the  authority  of  facts  is  the 
Jieightof  presumption,  and  no  man  is  better  qualified,  from 
his  extensive  reading  and  continued  investigation,  to  collate 
a  number  of  facts  and  draw  certain  conclusions  from  them, 

Lastly,  the  woman's  testimony  goes  to  accredit  the  sup- 
position that  the  influence  of  fear  or  surprise,  and  the  sud- 
den appearance  of  the  white  man  armed  with  a  pistol— the 
struggle  that  ensued — the  irritation  it  produced— all  com- 
bined to  operate  such  change. 


33 


.  And  although  she  be  an  unfortunate  woman  and  mother 
of  an  illegitimate  child,  yet  let  me  repeat  it  that  her  evidence 
is  here  meritorious}  as  it  goes  to  deliver  the  community  from 
the  support  of  a  bastard,  and  justly  to  fix  the  man  who  begot 
it  with  the  maintenance  of  it.  And  above  all,  that  she  is 
swearing  not  corruptly  for  her  own  interest,  but  against  it, 
Ibr  if  money  was  her  object  the  white  man  was  her  mark. 

Sampson.  May  it  please  the  court.  If  ever  the  situation 
of  man  was  full  of  peril  and  difficulty,  so  is  mine.  My  learn- 
ed colleague  has  taken  to  himself  all  that  was  terra  Jirma  in 
€ur  cause,  and  when  he  had  brought  me  to  the  world's  end, 
plunged  me  headlong  into  that  ocean  of  wonders  and  adven- 
ture where  I  am  now  adrift.  He  has,  moreover,  taken  away 
his  notes  on  which  I  relied,  and  left  me  no  other  chart  than 
this  stenographic  scrawl,  wherein  my  eyes  can  discern  no- 
thing but  objects  of  evil  omen.*  Artie  owls,  mishapen  mon- 
sters, and  prodigious  births.  Well  might  I  barter  one  hun- 
dred leagues  of  such  sea  for  half  an  acre  of  brown  furze.  If 
I  escape  this  time,  I  will  hang  up  my  drooping  garments  as 
an  offering  to  Neptune,  and  never  tempt  my  wayward  for- 
tune more.  1  will  now  borrow  courage  from  despair,  and 

to  the  matter. 

Soon  after  the  vernal  equinox,  in  the  year  of  the  vulgar  era 
jne  thousand  eight  hundred  and  six,  an  Adam-coloured  dam? 
sel  submitted  to  the  lewd  clasps  of  a  lascivious  moor,  and 
from  that  mixture  sprang  three  miracles. 

1st.  In  the  course  of  one  month's  time  she  quickened 
and  conceived. 

2d.  She  bare  a  child,  not  of  her  fitimitive  and  proper  co- 
.or,  nor  yet  of  that  of  the  african — but  strange  to  tell,  of  most 
degenerate  white. 

•  Mr.  Sampson  had  taken  his  notes  in  short-hand,  and  the  allu- 
sion here  is  to  certain  emphatical  words  written  in  the  common 
character,  and  of  course  more  obvious  to  the  eye. 


I 


-  39 

3d.  And  the  greatest  of  these  wonders,  she  remained,  as 
the  counsel  for  the  Alms-house  charitably  testifies,  a  lady  of 
virtue  and  unblemished  credit  ! 

I  had  heard  of  a  sect  that  trusted  more  to  faith  than  to  good 
works.  The  counsel  it  appears  is  of  that  sect,  when  he  asks 
this  honorable  court  to  put  its  hand  and  seal  to  three  such 
miracles.  I  would  rather  be  called  ignorant  and  simple  than 
too  learned  and  perverse.  But  since  I  cannot  believe  in  the 
metamorphoses  of  old,  nor  in  the  procreations  of  Jupiter 
Ammon,  I  am  sour  upon  the  belief  of  all  other  such  heathen- 
ish stories. 

Before  I  lose  myself  in  the  labyrinth  through  which  I  am 
to  tread,  that  I  may  not  die  in  the  learned  counsel's  debt,  I 
shall  first  answer  all  his  observations.  If  I  should  miss  my 
way,  and  never  return  to  where  I  set  out,  my  will  is  that  all 
concerned  shall  mourn  for  me — the  whites  putting  on  black, 
and  the  blacks  white,  in  token  of  affection.  Item:  the  manu- 
script I  hold  in  my  hand  to  be  deposited  in  the  city  library. 
Item  :  the  fee  which  I  receive  in  this  cause,  to  enure  to  the 
benefit  of  the  Alms-house. 

The  counsel  says  that  the  reasoning  of  my  colleague  has 
not  convinced  him.    If  it  had,  it  would  have  been  a  fourth  • 
miracle ;  for  certainly  the  counsel's  business  here  was  not  to; 
be  convinced. 

He  triumphantly  asks  why  we  did  not  call  thcwhite  man  ; 
and  I  answer,  in  all  simplicity,  because  we  had  no  need  of 
him :  besides  he  is  our  rival,  and  carries  pistols ;  and  we 
disclaim  all  prying  into  what  does  not  concern  us,  and  all  in- 
discreet meddling  with  family  affairs. 

All  the  justice  we  ask  for  our  poor  black  swain,  is  not  t© 
pay  for  a  child  he  never  got,  nor  be  made  a  worker  of  mira- 
cles against  his  will :  the  thing  of  all  things  of  which  he 
thought  the  least,  and  of  which  he  is  the  least  ambitious. 


40 


Again,  the  counsel  asks  what  motive  could  the  woman  have 
to  charge  the  child  to  a  black  father,  when  she  could  have 
had  a  white  one.  We  do  not  know  why — some  love  the  dark- 
ness rather  than  the  light. 

• 

But  it  is  said  evidence  was  meritorious,  and  for  the  good 
of  the  community,  charitable,  and  for  the  good  of  the  Alms- 
house. I  never  before  heard  of  such  pious  and  patriotic  for- 
nication. 

But  if  she  was  disposed  to  perjure  herself,  would  she  not 
have  laid  the  child  to  the  richest  father  as  well  as  to  the  fair- 
est? 

Perhaps  not.  Perhaps  she  wished  to  establish  a  partner- 
ship according  to  the  custom  of  merchants,  long  used  and  ap- 
proved within  this  city,  to  make  one  a  sleeping  fiartner^  to 
contribute  by  his  friends  ;  the  other  the  active  partner,  tak- 
ing the  trouble  and  responsibility,  and  giving  his  name  to 
the  firm.  She  has  herself  averred  and  proved  this  partnership, 
stated  the  locus  in  quo,  and  laid  the  venue  in  her  bed,  and  it 
is  too  late  now  for  the  counsel  to  say  it  was  a  transitory  action 
after  issue  found. 

There  is  another  legal  view  of  this  matter.  The  child 
may  be  a  negociable  instrument  under  the  statute  of  Anne* 
and  one  party  liable  as  maker,  the  other  as  indorser.  It  is 
thus  that  commerce  is  everv  day  encroaching  on  the  com* 
mon  law.  Formerly  a  bastard  was  nullius  Jilius  and  could 
have  no  father  :  now  it  seems  he  may  have  two,  unless  the 
court  will  think  that  it  is  carrying  the  commercial  principle 
too  far.  Then  if  the  court  will  allow  only  one  father  to  one 
child  it  is  to  be  seen  whether  it  will  permit  another  innova- 
tion not  less  violent,  viz  :  that  black  men  shall  be  the  fathers 
of  white  children  by  intendment  of  law.  If  a  white  man  can 
say  to  a  black  one,  get  out  of  that  bed,  you  black  devil,  till  I  do 
this  thing — by  division  of  labor  trade  will  be  advanced — 
you  must  do  your  part  of  the  dnty  and  I  mine — I  will  get 


41 


the  child  arid  you  shall  father  it— there  will  be  in  this  matt' 

her  employment  for  us  both  Can  that,  may  it  please  your 

honors,  be  the  law  ? 

As  to  a  complaint  made  by  the  gentleman  that  we  insin- 
uated the  evidence  on  his  side  to  be  altogether  base,  if  it  be  any 
satisfaction  to  him  we  will  retract  that  saying.  We  will  ad* 
mit  that  there  was  first  and  second  fiddle  and  base  accom- 
panyment.  But  as  he  is  himself  the  leader  of  the  band,  he 
ought  not  to  complain  of  the  effect. 

After  breaking  a  lance  upon  my  colleague  in  the  honor  of 
this  daughter  of  Eve,  he  attacks  the  doctors  en  masse.  What 
do  they  know,  he  says  more  than  other  men.  But  that  is 
not  all,  he  goes  further  and  levels  a  shaft  at  your  honors  on 
the  bench,  and  says  you  have  as  much  experience  in  such 
matters  as  any  doctors  or  any  persons  whatsoever.  Some 
gentlemen  have  a  happy  knack  at  saying  any  thing.  If  I  had 
even  suspected  any  of  your  honors  of  any  such  experience  or 
at  all  to  have  dipped  into  such  matters,  even  from  curiosity,  I 
never  should  have  ventured  to  hint  at  it. 

After  disposing  of  the  faculty  in  a  summary  way,  and  re- 
presenting all  the  doctors  who  dont  believe  that  black  men's 
children  may  be  white,  as  a  set  of  coasting  doctors,  who  dont 
go  out  of  sight  of  land,  who  run  by  the  line  and  the  dipsey 
lead,  he  then  introduces  a  doctor  as  a  god  upon  the  scene. 
Never  was  a  god  introduced  more  apropos.  It  was  truly 
dignus  vindice  nodus.  It  was  no  longer  your  men  of  experi- 
ence who  believe  nothing  but  what  they  see,  and  tell  nothing 
but  what  they  know,  who  never  go  on  voyages  of  discoveries 
or  explore  the  unknown  regions  of  hidden  wonders.  Not  so 
doctor  Mitchill.  At  his  name  all  ears  stand  erect,  might  and 
power  are  his  attributes.  Be  it  so.  I  rejoice  in  his  strength, 
I  glory  to  magnify  him,  for  if  he  be  that  great  Ajax  Telemo- 
nius,  who  then  am  I,  who  have  scuffled  with  him  for  one  hour 
in  the  heat  of  a  burning  day,  and  come  off,  if  not  with  vic- 
tory, with  life  which  is  great  honor  ?    And  now  having  re- 


42 


turned  by  the  same  sallyport  through  which  I  ventured  out 
to  skirmish  with  him,  once  more  I  plant  my  standard  on  the 
ramparts  of  the  law  and  display  to  the  whole  camp  the  trophies 
I  have  borne  off  the  field. 

It  is  grievous  to  see  the  disposition  that  pervades  mankind 
to  laugh  at  serious  things.  But  ever,  by  the  side,  of  eminent 
learning,  there  is  a  nitch  where  malice  loves  to  sport.  It  is 
a  quit  rent  which  the  learned  owe  to  us  small  wits  ;  it  is  an 
indemnity  for  the  shade  they  cast  upon  us,  and  we  seize 
upon  it  by  the  title  of  amends.  I  do  very  much  respect  the 
witness  and  admire  his  learning  and  his  candor  ;  but  when  I 
think  of  the  odd  excursion  we  have  made  to  discover  the  pa- 
rentage of  this  child  of  nature,  I  must  either  laugh  or  die  of 
it. 

If  a  witness  was  wanted  with  a  mind  well-stored  with  facts> 
he  stands  unequalled.  His  is  like  the  magazine  of  some  great 
commission-merchant,  whose  high  credit  and  extensive  cor- 
respondence brings  him  consignments  from  the  four  corners 

of  the  earth  with  room  for  all,  and  no  particular  reason 

for  rejecting  any,  whoever  would  make  up  an  assortment  to 
answer  any  demand,  may  call  upon  him.  If  the  wares  be 
not  all  his  own,  he  has  a  factor's  lien  on  them  and  a  vested 
interest,  and  may  dispose  of  them  for  the  benefit  of  the  con- 
cerned. If  he  parts  with  them  without  warranty,  and  there 
is  no  scienter,  then  they  are  at  the  risk  of  the  party  who  re- 
ceives them,  and  the  maxim  is  caveat  e?nj2to?\ 

It  was  with  this  view  of  ascertaining  how  far  these  facts 
were  warranted  genuine,  or  in  other  words,  how  many  ounces 
of  such  testimony  went  to  the  pound,  that  I  put  so  many 
questions  to  doctor  Mitchill.  I  wanted  to  know  whether  wc 
were  to  take  by  the  Winchester  or  the  standard  bushel — 
whether  our  long  measure  was  the  ell  Flemish  or  the  com- 
mon yard  ;  and  the  court  will  very  clearly  comprehend,  or  else 
will  not  comprehend  how  we  came  to  treat  of  Plato's  triangle 
©f  the  virtues  of  the  Number  Three,  and  of  the  probability 


43 


of  the  opinions  of  that  great  philosopher — viz.  that  when 
men  and  women  hold  this  sort  of  tete-artete,  it  is  only  for  the 
sake  of  completing  a  triangle.  If  I  did  not  pursue  that  cu- 
rious subject  further  it  was  for  this  reason  :  from  the  mo- 
ment I  found  Out  that  a  triangle  had  but  three  sides,  I  saw 
that  the  doctrine  would  not  apply  ;  for  make  what  angle  you 
will  of  a  man  and  woman,  still  as  each  has  two  sides  at  the 
least,  a  right  and  a  left,  the  diagram  which  they  describe 
must  have  four,  not  to  speak  of  others  that  I  am  ashamed  to 
mention. 

We  passed  on  to  Aristotle  ;  but  with  all  his  form  and  his 
substance,  his  matter  and  his  motion,  his  cause  and  his  ef- 
fect, he  could  not  inform  us  how,  without  violating  probabili- 
ty, the  black  man  could  get  the  white  child  ;  and  therefore 
as  we  gained  no  light  we  had  no  need  of  any  photometer  to, 
measure  how  much.  Fearing  to  trust  myself  longer  in  the 
dark,  I  passed  on  to  the  next  topic,  recollecting  an  old 
maxim : 

Desperes  tractata  niitescere  posse  relinquas. 

But  I  had  the  consolation  to  think,  that  for  all  that  had  yet 
passed  between  us,  nobody  was  a  bit  ihe  wiser. 

The  albinos'  with  their  blood-shot  eyes  and  white  hair, 
with  the  artic  owls,  Swedish  sparrows,  and.  white  birds  of 
Canada,  I  leave  to  the  curious  in  wild  fowl. 

The  strength  of  the  adversary's  case  I  take  to  be  this : 
that  at  a  critical  moment,  after  mr.  Whistelo  and  miss  Wil- 
liams had  been  just  long  enough  in  bed  together  to  be  draw- 
ing towards  a  perfect  understanding  of  the  business  which 
brought  them  there,  the  lady  saw,  or  thought  she  saw,  an  ap- 
parition of  a  white  man  making  towards  her  with  his  cocked 
pistol  in  his  hand  ;  and  the  true  point  now  is  whether  that 
apparition  did  of  itself  beget  the  child,  or  only  change  it  from 
black  to  white  after  it  was  begotten,  by  acting  upon  thtj 


44 

nervous  system  of  the  mother.  The  counsel  showed  a  skill 
more  than  professional,  which  convinced  me  that  he  had 
gone  deep  Into  this  subject  and  probed  it  successfully  He 
understands  the  doctrine  of  animal  appetencies,  if  not  of 
chemical  affinities. 

It  is  curious  to  see  how  the  learned  will  differ  :  Professor 
Roederer  denies  the  effect  of  maternal  imagination  in  chang- 
ing the  form  or  color  of  the  foetus  ;  and  for  so  doing  he  gains 
the  prize  medal  of  the  University  of  Goettingen.  Doctor 
Mitchill  maintains  the  effects  of  maternal  imagination  with 
all  his  might.  And  another  profound  and  ingenious  philo- 
sopher, doctor  Erasmus  Darwin,  denies  this  power  in  the 
female  imagination  ;  but  demonstrates  its  existence  in  the 
male,  and  says  that  the  Calipcedia,*  or  art  of  getting  beau- 
tiful children,  as  also  of  procreating  males  or  females,  may 
be  taught  by  affecting  the  imagination  of  the  male  parent ; 
for  he  says  that  the  delicate  extremeties  of  the  seminal  glands 
irritate  the  organs  of  sense,  either  of  sight  or  of  touch.  He 
recommends  the  art  very  seriously  to  those  who  are  interest- 
ed in  the  procreation)  of  male  or  female  children  ;  and  ob- 
serves that  the  phalli  which  were  hung  round  the  necks  of 
the  roman  ladies,  or  worn  in  their  hair,  might  have  caused 
the  great  proportion  of  male  children.  He  laments  finally 
that  the  manner  of  accomplishing  this  cannot  be  unfolded 
with  sufficient  delicacy  to  meet  the  public  eye.  And  I  fear 
myself  the  squeamishness  of  the  age  to  be  such,  that  if  any 
professor  should  propose  a  course  of  lectures,  or  any  artist 
advertise  to  give  lessons  in  this  art,  he  would  find  very  great 
difficulty  and  discouragement.  A  reflection,  by-the-bye,  in* 
volving  a  satire  upon  mankind,  since  it  is  notorious  that  the 
most  delicate  of  both  sexes  practise,  with  shameless  hypocri- 

*  Doctor  Darwin,  and  the  other  learned  ?oologists,  seem  to 
have  mistaken  this  term.   It  should  be  written  Caliipcedcpueia. 

The  Reporter. 


45 


ay,  what  is  too  bad,  it  would  seem,  to  be  spoken  of  without 
offending  decency.  I  greatly  wish,  therefore,  that  the  Abbe 
Spallenzani  had  brought  his  methods  into  general  use,  r\6u 
withstanding  the  slighting  manner  in  which  sir  James  Jay 
has  treated  them,  because  it  would  be  a  means  of  quieting 
the  most  scrupulous  delicacy,  and  relieving  persons  of  eleva- 
ted sentiment  from  the  necessity  of  course  familiarities  ;  and 
be  more  suitable  every  way  to  the  delicacy  cf  the  age.  But  as 
far  as  concerns  the  present  point,  whether  Roederer,  Mitch- 
ill,  or  Darwin  prevail,  the  cause  is  not  a  whit  advanced  ;  for 
allowing  that  this  white  man  operated  upon  the  organs  of  sight 
or  touch,  whether  of  father  or  mother  so  as  to  whiten  the 
child,  such  a  position  would  give  birth  to  two  doubts,  more  per- 
plexing than  any  yet  appearing.  First,  touching  the  identi- 
ty and  individuality  of  the  infant,  of  which  individuality  co- 
lor is  a  part.  For  if  one  makes  a  child  black,  and  another 
makes  it  white,  shall  it,  while  it  continues  white,  be  said  to 
be  the  child  of  the  father  who  made  it  black,  and  not  rather 
be  taken  to  be  his  who  made  it  white  ?  Even  upon  legal 
principles  such  an  act  of  ownership,  exercised  by  a  man  over 
the  child  of  another,  as  bleaching  him,  without  authority, 
entitles  him,  whose  child  was  so  bleached  against  his  consent, 
to  abandon  altogether  to  the  wrong  doer,  and  to  throw  the 
child  upon  his  hands.  Certainly,  if  such  a  principle  be  esta- 
blished, as  that  white  men  can  father  their  children  upon  ne- 
gro fathers,  it  will  very  much  advance  industry,  and  encou- 
rage many  to  go  abroad  for  employment  who  now  stay  at 
home.  ^ 

But  to  return  to  maternal  affection.  A  fair  lady,  to  whom 
his  holiness  Pope  Nicholas  the  third,  had  committed  the  sa- 
cred charge  of  bearing  him  nsfiherjs  and  nieces,  brought 
him,  to  his  utter  discomfiture  one  day,  a  little  bear — and  why  ? 
why,  because  he  was  of  the  Ursini  family,  and  had  every 
where  throughout  his  palace  carved  and  painted  emblems  of 
the  name  and  honors  of  his  house.  Pope  Martin  the  fourth, 
who  succeeded  to  the  chair,  the  palace,  and  the  mistress,  fear- 


46 

ful  of  like  mischief  had  them  all  effaced  ;  and  accordingly 
his  nephews  and  nieces  were  nice  little  fiofiines,  no  more  like 
bears  than  miss  Williams'  child  is  like  a  negro. 

At  Tzertsogonbosh,  in  Germany,  there  was  a  religious  pro- 
cession.   Some  of  the  inhabitants  personated  angels,  and 
some  devils.    One  of  the  devils,  more  merry  than  wise, 
took  it  in  his  head,  as  soon  as  the  the  pageant  was  over,  to 
run  home  to  his  wife,  and  accosted  her,  if  not  in  these 
words,  in  words  to  this  effect :  «  You  dear  plague  of  my  life, 
for  all  the  vexation  you  have  caused  me  from  the  beginning 
of  the  world  till  the  date  of  these  presents,  I  am  determined 
forthwith  to  do  in  sort  that  you  shall  hereafter  be  the  mother 
of  a  young  devil." — She  scuffled,  he  «  worried  her  out,  and 
had  a  connexion  with  her and  whether  she  felt  life  in  one 
month  or  four,  she  finally  bore  him  a  young  devil.  Doctor 
Mitchill  saw  nothing  improbable  in  a  fellow  playing  the  devil 
with  his  wife,  or  begetting  a  little  devil.    He  thought  it  pru- 
dent, however,  to  inform  himself  whether  it  was  a  dancing  de- 
vil.   I  am  cautious  in  what  I  relate  ;  and  as  I  did  not  know 
what  dancing-master  it  had,  I  would  not  undertake  to  say  :  it 
was,  however,  a  merry  begotten  devil,  and  probably  a  dancing 
one ;  and  it  is  not  impossible  that  it  might  have  been  one  of 
those  that  tempted  saint  Anthony,  twenty  thousand  of  whom 
it  is  said  could  dance  a  saraband  upon  the  point  of  a  cam- 
brick  needle  without  incommoding  each  other. 

That  the  learned  sometimes  account  for  things  quite  dif- 
ferently from  the  rest  of  mankind,  will  appear  from  the  se- 
quel of  the  story  of  the  lady  of  Milan  and  her  seven  sons. 
There  was  a  tattle  when  I  was  at  Milan,  but  as  those  who 
believed  it  had  not  read  Simon  Pontius  de  Coloribus  oculo- 
ru?n,  it  may  be  entitled  to  small  credit.  There  was,  they 
said,  in  those  days  a  young  scotch  laird,  blue-eyed,  and  red- 
haired;  who  made  the  tour  of  Italy  to  see  pictures  and  sta- 
tues, and  kiss  the  pope's  toe  ;  but  that  his  devotion  was  prin- 
cipally warmed  by  the  image  of  this  Cisalpine  saint,  that  he 
•ame  at  different  times  to  worship  at  her  shrine,  and  finally, 


*7 


that  it  was  he  who  recommended  the  milk  that  turned  the 
«hildrens'  hair  red. 

So  much  for  maternal  affection  with  human  kind.  But 
as  there  is  comparative  anatomy,  why  not  comparative  zo- 
ology :  and,  unfortunately  for  the  pride  of  man,  in  the  act 
on  which  our  philosophers  and  doctors  have  delivered  their 
opinion,  the  similarity  is  entire.  Poets  have  viewed  it  in 
the  same  light ;  and  the  prince  of  poets  defines  it  to  be  mak- 
ing the  beast  with  two  backs.  He  too,  by  the  bye,  was  for 
the  matemat  affection,  for  he  makes  Iago  alarm  Brabantio, 
least  Desdemona  should  "  be  got  with-child  of  a  barbary 
horse,"  and  he  should  have  u  coursers  for  cousins  and  gen- 
nets  for  germans."  It  was  conformable  to  that  idea  that  I 
asked  doctor  Mitchill  whether  the  farmers  on  Long-Island 
could  reasonably  expect  to  have  a  bay  foal  when  they  plough- 
ed the  black  mare  with  the  bay  horse.  He  saw  no  more 
wonder  than  that  a  black  hen  should  have  a  white  egg :  and 
then  would  have  been  the  time,  but  for  the  fear  of  lengthen- 
ing out  the  trial  too  far,  to  have  discussed  the  great  problem 
of  the  eternity  of  the  world,  which  many  venerable  philoso- 
phers, according  to  Censorinus,  supported  by  the  single  ar- 
gument of  an  egg.*— For  they  said  no  egg  was  produced 
without  a  bird,  and  no  bird  without  an  egg  ;  and  as  it  never 
could  be  shown  which  was  first  formed,  it  followed  that  the 
world  had  no  beginning.  We  might  have  shown  upon  the 
authority  of  Aristophanes,  how  the  world  was  produced  by 
divine  love,  and  divine  love  from  the  egg  of  night,  hatched 
by  chaos.  If  we  had  been  prepared  to  go  into  eternity,  there 
would  have  been  a  range  I  There,  was  a  subject  fit  for  philo- 
sophy— one  never  to  be  determined. 

Touching  the  old  cow  that  was  killed,  I  can  only  say  that 
whatever  doctor  Mitchill  says  he  saw,  I  believe  as  if  I  had 

<  *  Negant  omnino  posse  reperiri  avesne  ante  an  ova  generate 
sint.    Cum  et  ovum  sine  ave  et  avis  sine  ovogigni  jianpossit. 


43 

seen  it,  I  therefore  believe  he  saw  a  cripple  playing  with  4 
coopers*  knife,  and  playing  with  it  between  his  toes.  I  be- 
lieve also  that  the  neighboring  gossips  told  him  the  story  of 
the  dead  cow  ;  but  I  am  not  bound  to  believe  all  they  said. 
When  such  facts  occur,  it  is  so  natural  to  run  the  back  scent, 
and  if  memory  does  not  furnish  something,  invention  will. 
I  once,  however,  saw  a  man  who  was  born  without  arms,  but 
his  father  had  killed  no  cow. 

It  is  a  good  rule  that  golden  rule  of  king  Charles,  to  be- 
lieve the  half  of  what  we  hear.  It  is  a  good  rule  of  jurispru- 
dence to  reject  all  hearsay  evidence  ;  and  it  is  a  good  rule  to 
reject  a  great  deal  more.  A  man  made  a  fortune  by  wager* 
ing  to  the  contrary  of  what  every  body  said.  If  his  maxim 
was  true  in  common  life,  how  much  more  so  in  philosophy  I 

The  attorney's  case  in  Haddington's  poems,  with  the  dif- 
ference only  between  black  and  white,  is  a  case  in  point.  He 
was  an  awkward  fellow,  to  upset  his  ink  in  his  wife's  lap. 
It  was  such  an  ill-natured  return  for  her  caresses,  ingratitude 
of  so  black  a  dye,  that  he  deserved  his  fate. 

The  world  has  been  in  ignorance  on  another  subject,  which 
this  trial  has  promulged— -First,  all  negroes  were  supposed 
to  be  black.  In  process  of  time  it  was  discovered  that  some 
were  white  ; — and  now  it  appears  that  others  are  pye-balled. 
He  that  doctor  Mitchill  saw,  in  the  very  act  of  metamor- 
phose, was  a  full  grown  man,  and  could  not  be  influenced,  one 
would  think  at  that  time,  by  any  affection  of  his  mama  to 
change  his  color.  That  fact  then  remains  to  be  accounted 
for  on  some  newer  principle.  I  once  knew  a  mr.  Percy,  a 
composer  in  music  and  a  singing  master.  He  taught  in 
my  family,  and  he  confessed  one  day  in  the  fulness  of  his 
heart  that  he  had  been  credulous  enough  to  throw  away  a 
guinea  a  visit  for  several  months,  to  a  quack,  calling  him- 
self an  ancient  magnetist,  who  undertook  by  gestures  and 
wry  faces  to  take  a  purple  stain  from  the  cheek  of  a  favoritfc 
pupil.    In  tfce  beginning  of  the  course  of  magnetism  all  pa- 


4* 


ifents  kindred  and  neighbors  glorified  this  quack,  for  they 
thought  they  saw  the  mark  disappearing  from  the  edge  of 
the  lower  eye-lash.  But  finally  they  were  convinced  that 
they  were  imposed  upon. 

There  was  a  horse  shown  some  time  ago  in  New-York 
as  a  wonder,  and  he  passed  well  enough  because  his  tail  was 
shaved  and  his  buttocks  painted  dapple  green.  It  is  the 
easiest  thing  in  life  to  work  a  wonder. 

The  last  question  I  took  the  liberty  of  asking  doctor- 
Mitchill,  in  order  to  come  to  a  just  estimate  of  what  he  con- 
ceives the  line  of  probability,  was,  whether  the  fact  which 
we  have  on  scripture  authority  of  the  changes  worked 
Upon  Laban's  sheep  by  the  contrivance  of  Jacob,  was  to  be 
considered  as  a  miracle,  or,  on  the  principles  of  maternal 
affection,  a  thing  within  the  ordinary  laws  of  nature.  And 
the  learned  witness  answered,  without  hesitation,  that  it  was 
to  be  accounted  for  by  the  ordinary  laws  of  nature.  Seeing 
that  this  is  so,  and  that  in  matters  of  generation  the  resem- 
blance is  so  perfect  between  man  and  beast,  I  wonder  it  has 
not  been  long  ago  turned  to  the  embellishment  of  the 
human  species.  Ladies  might  then  go  to  the  ball  and  indians 
to  the  war  without  paint ;  and  it  would  be  an  innocent  plea- 
sure to  variegate  boys  and  girls,  by  means  of  colored  sticks, 
feathers,  and  ribbands ;  and  the  dutchmen  might  display 
their  taste  upon  their  children  as  they  now  do  upon  their 
tulips.  How  pretty  and  pleasant  to  see  little  natural 
Harlequins  playing  about  I  But  for  the  ignorance  of  our 
fathers  we  might  have  been  burnished  like  game  cocks,  and 
had  wives  like  birds  of  Paradise,  and  daughters  like  cocka- 
toos :  now  and  then  those  that  love  curiosities  might 
have  a  little  monster,  and  for  those  who  think  two  heads 
better  than  one,  it  would  be  quite  easy  to  frighten  the  mo- 
ther out  of  a  child  with  two  heads. 

Let  not  the  learned  witness  complain  that  we  treat  his  o- 
jinions  lightly  ;  the  greatest  philosophers  in  the  universe 

G 


50 


have  been  thought,  up£n  some  particulai'  subjects,  too  easy 
of  belief. 

Hippocrates  relates  that  his  mother  used  frequently  to  tell 
him  that  for  two  years  before  his  birth  she  had  no  carnal  in- 
tercourse with  his  father.  But  that  she  had  been  strangely 
influenced  one  evening  as  she  was  walking  in  the  garden. 

Galen,  in  his  treatise  on  the  measles,  says  the  disease  was 
brought  by  a  woman  who  had  no  father. 

Doctor  Harvey,  who  discovered  the  circulation  of  the  blood  ? 
is  said  to  have  believed  and  written  of  a  race  of  men  with 
tails. 

Diodorus  Siculus  mentions  a  sorceress  of  Egypt  who  had 
passed  for  the  celebrated  I  sis,  upon  the  strength  of  bearing 
children  without  the  help  of  men,  but  that  a  priest  of  Mer- 
cury was  detected  in  her  bed. 

Livy  speaks  of  a  woman  brought  to  bed  in  a  desolate 
island,  where  she  had  not  seen  a  human  face  for  nine  years. 
She  was  brought,  he  says,  to  Rome,  and  examined  by  the 
senate.  What  a  pity  that  we  had  no  report  taken  in  short 
hand  of  the  arguments  of  the  jurisconsults,  and  the  opinions 
of  the  conscript  fathers  ! 

Lord  Bacon,  in  treating  of  the  period  of  gestation  of  vari- 
ous animals,  says  gravely,  that  an  ox  goes  twelve  months 
with  young  ;  and  doctor  Mitchill  of  North  America,  was  so 
impressed  in  early  life  by  reading  the  novel  of  the  christian 
bishop  Hiliodorus,  entitled  the  loves  of  Theagines  and  Cha- 
riclea,  that  he  could  not  see  any  improbability  in  black  men 
getting  white  children. 

A  Prussian  soldier  was  detected  taking  certain  jewels  and 
corporal  ornaments  from  the  image  of  the  virgin  Mary,  and 
boldly  asserted  that  she  gave  them  to  him.  The  case  was 
novel,  and  a  counsel  of  prelates  and  other  learned  men 


Si 


was  convened,  who,  not  averse  to  "miracles,  adjudged  the 
thing  possible.  Frederick  the  great,  understood  tr.^p,  and 
suffered  the  soldier  to  be  discharged  ;  but  next  day  it  was 
proclaimed  that  on  pain  of  death,  none  should  thereafter  take 
advantage  of  the  generosity  of  the  virgin  Mary.  Now  let  it 
be  proclaimed  by  authority  of  the  mayor  and  corporation, 
that  no  black  man  shall  hereafter  presume  to  get  a  white 
child  ;  but  let  the  fellow  be  in  the  mean  time  discharged. 

And  now  that  we  have  returned  from  our  voyage  round  the 
world,  let  us  look  how  the  thing  stands  on  a  nearer  view. 
Ten  or  twelve  of  the  most  experienced  physicians  declare 
this  thing  next  to  impossible.  One  gentleman  says,  em- 
phatically, that  if  it  is  true,  it  is  a  prodigy,  and  that  prodigies, 
he  believes,  do  not  happen,  though  perjuries  do.  Some  of  the 
professional  witnesses  have  resided  long  in  those  countries 
where  if  such  facts  were  natural  they  must  have  fallen 
within  their  notice  ;  but  they  never  saw  one  such  as  would 
warrant  their  belief  in  this  case — others  have  practised  in  that 
particular  and  useful  branch  which  enables  them  to  judge 
with  certainty  in  matters  of  this  nature  ;  and  envy  cannot  deny 
of  them  that  they  have  brought  more  into  the  world  than 
they  have  sent  out  of  it.  The  very  gentleman  who  ushered 
into  life  the  babe,  whose  name  will  be  bright  in  the  annals  of 
zoology,  physiology,  pathology,  and  all  the  ologies,  (doctor 
Secor)  agrees  that  it  is  the  child  of  a  white  man.  Doctor 
Mitchill  denies  it.  partly  on  the  authority  of  the  quadru- 
pedes  of  Paraguay,  and  partly  because  miss  Williams 
has  deposed  otherwise.  Allowing  the  analogy  in  such 
transactions  be^een  men  and  four-footed  animals,  yet  I  am 
not  so  easy  in  allowing  weight  to  the  testimony  of  a  wo- 
man, who  swears  to  her  own  shame;  and  if  I  did  give 
weight  to  her  testimony,  I  should  not  admit  any  conclu- 
sion to  be  drawn  from  it  in  this  case  ;  for  it  is  as  strong 
one  way  as  the  other.  She  scuffled  wiih  a  black  man  in  a 
bad  house,  and  he  worried  her  out  and  had  a  connexion  with 
her.   Very  good.    Shortly  afterwards  she  scuffled,  or  fit,  as^ 


$2 

she  termed  it,  witn  a  white  man,  and  knocked  off  his  hat,  but 
he  afterwards  came  to  bed  without  his  hat  and  had  a  connex- 
ion with  her.  Did  you  cry  out  ?  no,  sir.  What  then  did 
you  do  ?  I  bid  him  be  quiet !  well !  where  is  the  difference, 
except  in  this,  that  the  white  man  had  no  hat  upon  his  head  ? 
Will  it  be  contended  now,  on  the  authority  of  any  treatise 
upon  generation,  that  a  man  cannot  get  a  child  without  a  hat 
upon  his  head  ?  Here  I  might  say,  without  indiscretion,  your 
honors  have  experience  to  the  contrary.  No  well  bred  man 
would  think  of  going  to  bed  to  a  lady  with  a  hat  on  ;  if  he  did, 
she  would  do  well  to  knock  it  off.  If  he  was  so  much  afraid 
of  catching  cold,  he  might  have  put  on  his  night  cap.  To 
be  sure,  if  he  he  of  the  society  of  friends,  it  alters  the  case, 
because  then  it  might  be  an  inconvenience  ;  but  could  not  be 
considered  an  incivility — but  there  is  no  evidence  of  that. 

Besides  this,  the  evidence  of  alderman  Barker  and  mr. 
O'Blenis,  shows  that  she  has  contradicted  herself  upon  oath, 
for,  before  them  she  swore  she  had  no  connexion  with  a 
white  man.  Here  before  this  court  she  admits,  when  upon 
oath,  that  she  had.  She  admitted,  it  is  true,  before  those 
magistrates,  after  her  depositions  were  given  in,  that  she  had 
a  scuffle  with  the  white  man  and  that  he  tore  her  petticoat ;  but 
that  does  not  reconcile  the  contradiction  upon  oath.  Tear- 
ing a  petticoat,  is  not  having  a  connexion  ;  nor  is  it  to  be  sup- 
posed that  :tll  the  passions  with  which  that  white  man  was 
influenced,  were  to  be  allayed  by  the  small  satisfaction  of 
tearing  her  petticoat.  Where  there  are  Helens  there  will  be 
wars  ;  but  the  most  quarrelsome  will  not  fly  to  arms  for  the 
sake  of  tearing  petticoats.  I  defy  all  the  aniflfc  of  pathology 
to  show  a  case  of  a  man  affected  with  such  an  antipathy  to 
petticoats.  But  it  may  be  said  one  of  these  scuffles  was  more 
Platonic  than  the  other.  I  do  not  believe  that.  The  one 
v/orried,  and  the  other Jit.  Platonic  love  does  not  carry  pis-? 
tols,  nor  jump  into  bed  with  its  hat  on.  Such  scuffles  may 
differ  in  etiquette — but  not  in  reality.  "  Montague's  men 
are  aUvays  thrust  from  the  wall,  and  their  women  to  tire 


53 


wall.*'  Can  we  believe  that  the  white  watch  made  the  black 
watch  turn  out,  merely  for  the  si^ke  of  a  warm  hammock.  If 
that  be  so,  I  can  only  say,  "  delicate  pleasures  to  susceptible 
minds  I"  But  that  is  not  the  argument ;  the  woman  herself 
says,  that  there  were  no  young  ones  that  time,  because  they 
Jit  all  the  time.  If  they  fit,  what  more  is  wanted  ?  one  of  the 
counsel  asked  whether  many  races  of  animals  were  not  pro- 
pagated in  strife,  and  he  instanced  cats  :  but  he  might  have 
taken  a  still  nobler  instance,  that  of  the  sabine  women,  who 
scuffled  with  the  roman  men,  yet  bore  them  children.  All 
history  sacred  and  profane,  is  full  of  children  begotten  in  vio- 
lence. There  are  countries  where  a  scratched  nose  is  a 
sign  of  victory  rather  than  defeat ;  and  where  a  woman  who 
surrenders  her  favors,  without  resistance,  is  like  a  general 
who  surrenders  a  strong  place  without  a  shot.  Say  then 
that  one  scuffled  like  Boreas,  the  other  like  Zephyr — still  it 
comes  to  the  same  thing  ;  for  Zephyr,  mild  as  he  was,  got 
Flora  with  child,  and  Boreas  with  his  Orythia  could  no  more, 
except  that  he  got  twins  with  wings  on  them.  The  terms  in 
which  Ovid  makes  Flora  give  her  evidence,  are  so  applicable 
to  the  case  of  our  Lucy,  when  she  speaks  of  her  black  lover, 
that  I  am  tempted,  as  well  for  that,  as  to  show  I  have  not  for- 
got my  latin,  to  repeat  them. 

Ver  eraty  Zejihyrus  me  comfiexit,  abibam 
Insequiturifugioifortior  ille  fuit. 

What  is  there  then  but  the  love  of  the  marvellous  that 
should  induce  us  to  depart  from  the  ordinary  laws  of  nature 
to  come  at  the  conclusion,  that  this  child  belongs  to  a  black 
rather  than  to  a  white  man  ?  There  was  no  difference  but 
in  the  manner  ;  and  in  such  matters  every  man  will  have  his 
Way. 

Dick  can  neatly  dance  a  jig  ; 
But  Tom  is  best  at  Borees. 

There  remains  but  one  topic  of  the  evidence  to  dis- 
cuss.  Cases  have  been  related  and  assen..J  to  by  doctor 


54 


Mitchill,  that  where  there  has  been  a  rapid  succession  of 
intercourse  between  a  white  and  a  black  man,  twins  have 
been  born,  each  resembling  the  respective  incumbent  to 
whom  he  owes  /lis  origin.  Upon  this  ground  we  are  at 
length  enabled  to  make  a  proposition  which  will  meet  the 
justice  of  the  case,  and  of  course  the  approbation  of  the  court. 
It  appears  here  that  there  has  been  a  rapid  succession  of  in- 
tercourse in  the  very  terms  of  the  evidence  ;  but  of  the  twins 
only  one  is  yet  come  to  light,  which  is  evidently  that  of  the 
white  man.  The  black  man's  twin  is  not  yet  born  ;  but  if 
the  lady  be  as  slow  in  bringing  forth  as  she  was  quick  in  con- 
ceiving, it  will  be  time  enough  two  years  hence  to  look  for 
it.  Let  her  satisfy  the  court  that  she  has  lived  chaste  since 
April,  1806,  and  will  continue  so  to  do  for  two  years  more, 
and  then  if  there  comes  a  black  child  bona  Jidc  the  fruit  of 
our  connexion,  we  pledge  ourselves  to  maintain  it. 


The  mayor  delivered  the  opinion  of  the  court  to  the 
following  effect  :— 

This  is  an  appeal  from  the  police  magistrates— it  ap- 
pears that  they  were  divided  in  opinion  respecting  the 
charging  of  the  defendant  as  the  father  of  an  illegitimate 
child,  and  that  the  commissioners  of  the  Alms-house  and 
Bridewell  acting  as  overseers  of  the  poor,  have  applied  to 
the  Sessions  to  review  the  case. 

The  defendant  is  a  negro — .the  mother  a  mulattress— and 
the  child  has  the  hair  and  most  of  the  features  of  a  white, 
the  color,  indeed,  somewhat  darker,  but  lighter  than  most 
of  the  generality  of  mulattoes. 

The  oath  of  the  woman  is  positive  as  to  the  father  ;  and 
it  is  not  pretended  by  the  defendant  that  he  has  not  been 
connected  with  her  ;  but  he  relies  upon  the  appearance  of 
the  child  to  destroy  the  evidence  of  the  mother. 


55 


This  case,  involving  a  most  important  question  in  physi- 
ology, the  most  respectable  medical  gentlemen  in  the  city 
have  been  called  in  to  give  their  opinions,  and  they  almost 
unanimously  declare  that  the  defendant  is  not  the  father  of 
the  child,  as  it  would  be  a  deviation  from  the  course  of  na- 
ture. Doctor  Pascalis  has  fortified  his  opinion  by  some 
very  able  remarks  ;  and  sir  James  Jay,  a  physician  of  great 
respectability,  and  of  the  longest  standing  in  the  city,  haa 
given  a  decided  opinion  to  the  same  effect,  and  has  parti- 
cularly indicated  the  want  of  crisped  hair  as  a  conclusive 
circumstance  against  the  testimony  of  the  woman  ;  and  he 
has  been  supported  in  his  opinion  by  the  president  of  the 
Medical  Society,  and  several  professors  and  other  distin- 
guished physicians. 

The  only  opinion  which  militates  against  the  unite^ 
voice  of  the  profession  is  that  of  doctor  Mitchill,  and  this 
is  more  in  appearance  than  in  reality.  That  learned  gen- 
tleman has  explicitly  admitted  that  the  offspring  of  the 
mother  and  the  defendant  would,  according  to  the  ordinary- 
laws  of  nature,  possess  a  color  lighter  than  that  of  the  fa- 
ther and  darker  than  that  of  the  mother ;  and  that,  on  the 
presumption  of  their  being  the  parents,  the  appearance  of 
the  present  child  would  be  an  anamoly  in  the  science  of 
man,  and  a  departure  from  the  usual  operations  of  nature 

If  therefore  nothing  further  appeared  before  the  court, 
we  would  not  hesitate  to  decide  against  rue  appellants  ;  as 
we  undoubtedly  repose  less  confidence  In  the  oath  of  the 
woman,  than  in  the  opinions  of  the  medical  gentlemen  who 
have  appeared  here  as  witnesses,  corroborated  by  every  ap- 
pearance, and  by  our  own  observations  ;  and  it  cannot  cer- 
tainly be  expected  that  we  would  have  recourse  ta  the  mi- 
raculous to  bear  out  and  support  the  testimony  of  the  mo- 
ther. The  rule  in  dramatic  poetry  will  apply  to  cases  of 
this  nature — 

Nic  Deus  intersit  nisi  digfius  virulice  nodus, 
incident—  


But  the  mother  has  reluctantly  attested  and  explicitly  ad- 
mitted that  she  had  connexion  with  a  white  man  as  well  as 
with  the  defendant.  We  can  therefore,  even  upon  her 
own  testimony,  be  justified  in  dismissing  the  present  com- 
plaint ;  and  we  accordingly  order,  that  the  application  to 
charge  the  defendant  as  the  father  of  the  illegitimate  child 
be  over-ruled,  and  that  he  be  discharged  from  his  recogni* 
zance. 

THE  END. 


DISTRICT  OF  NEW-YORK,  n. 

BE  IT  REMEMBERED,  That  on  the  nineteenth 
day  of  September,  in  the  Thirty-second  year  of  the 
§  §  Independence  of  the  United  States  of  America.  DaVID 
§l.  s.§  LONGUQRTH,  of  the  said  District,  hath  deposited  in 
§  §  this  office  the  Title  of  a  Book,  the  right  whereof  he  claims* 
<0*u?*&>      piopnetor,  in  the  words  following,  to  wit— 

"  The  Commissioners  of  the  Alms  house,  vs  Alexander  Whistelot 
a  black  man ;  being  a  remarkable  case  of  Bastardy,  tried  and 
adjudged  bejore  the  Mayor,  Recorder,  and  sexerai  aldermen 
o}  the  city  of  New  York,  under  the  act  passed  sixth  March, 
180; ,  for  the  relief  of  cities  and  towns  from  the  maintenance 
of  bastard  children. 

PLUTARCH. 

The  wisely  curious  rack  their  Lrain, 
To  solve  this  problem— all  in  vain. 

T/te  Reporter." 

In  conformity  to  the  Act  of  Congress  of  the  United  States,  en- 
titled "  An  Act  for  the  encouragement  of  learning,  by  securing  the 
copies  of  Maps,  Charts,  anil  Books,  to  the  Authors  and  Proprieties 
of  such  copies,  during  the  times  therein  mentioned;"  and  also  t  > 
an  Acr,  entitled  "  An  Act,  Supplementary  to  an  Act  entitled  "  An 
Act  for  the  encouragement  of  learning,  by  securing  the  copies  oi 
Maps,  Charts,  and  Books,  to  the  Authors  and  Pr.»pr;etors  of  such 
copies,  during  the  times  therein  mentioned,"  and  extending  the 
benefits  thereof  to  the  arts  of  designing,  engraving,  and  etching 
historical  and  other  prints.'* 

EDWARD  DUNSCOMB, 
Clerk  of  the  District  of  New-York. 


